Meetings of Marauders
by Whiskey
Summary: An accident with a time turner sends Fred into the era of the Marauders. Will he save the world by altering the course of events or throw it into a whole new age of chaos? Chapters 1 to 10 and 12 to 18 have been edited and reposted. 24.12.07
1. Fetching Harry

Disclaimer: Everything you recognise belongs to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing, and am making no profit.

Setting: This story starts a couple of weeks after the end of GoF, but after that goes a little AU.

A/N: This story is in the process of being edited. I've had trouble finishing it for various reasons - one being the need to cringe when I read over old chapters - so now I'm fixing it up, chapter by chapter, until I get to the point where I can write the thing to completion. The story still flows as I'm changing none of the events which take place, so you don't need to reread old chapters to understand what's going on, but they will be uploaded for you to read if you like. I hope you enjoy them.

Cheers,

Whiskey

23/12/07

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**Chapter 1: Fetching Harry**

George was looking thoughtful; an unusual expression for him.

"What?" asked Fred, hoping for a distraction; he'd been gazing out at the rain for a while now and was unspeakably bored. It was Summer and it was raining. Perfect. It suited his mood. Weeks of hiding in The Burrow, while others prepared for war, had induced mingled feelings of fury and impotence in Fred and he was now beginning to feel as though he might explode. As 'the children' they were being 'protected'; their mother doing her best to pretend war wasn't brewing at all when she spoke to them - as if they didn't know she spent her nights discussing strategy in undisclosed locations.

"Did you ever wonder when the Marauder's Map was written?" asked George unexpectedly.

"No," said Fred, caught off guard. "_Who_ it was written by maybe - but not _when_. Why do you ask?"

George shrugged. "I was just thinking about how things change. I picture them a lot like us, you know, but the world changes so fast. Who knows what their world was like?" He glanced up and saw that Fred had raised an eyebrow at him. This was getting a little more philosophical than usual. "Think they lived during You Know Who's original stint?" he asked.

Ah, so _that's_ what this was about. Fred frowned. "Dunno," he said. It wasn't something he'd ever considered. "If they did though, they could still be around." He grinned. "Wouldn't it be funny if they were people we knew, like someone who works at The Ministry?"

"The Ministry?" George scoffed. "Zonko's for sure."

"Or that exploratory … whachamacallit?"

"Mazers?"

"Yeah, or Magical Code Breakers, or Aurors!"

The conversation was cut short by the sound of clumsy feet sprinting up the stairs. A second later the door was flung open and Ron burst in with an air of excitement. "Dumbledore owled! We're leaving to get Harry - the muggle way because of those gits he lives with. Dad said to see if you wanted to come."

Fred nodded in approval.

"'Bout time," said George.

"Yeah. So, c'mon then!" Ron turned to sprint back down to the kitchen, Fred and George following quickly as he dashed for the ministry car waiting outside. All three filed into the backseat.

Arthur Weasley, already behind the wheel, turned to face his sons. "No tricks. No picking on the muggle boy - "

"But Dad, we only - "

"No trouble," Arthur interrupted before George got any further. "We're going to collect Harry with no fuss and bring him back with no fuss. He's been through enough without you two causing problems with his family."

"Ron's caused more trouble than we have!" Fred protested.

"No fuss," Arthur repeated emphatically. They all nodded, not necessarily agreeing with their father but not willing to argue.

"Good," said Arthur, nodding as he started the car. "We're on the same page. Now, let's just get there as quickly as we can."

…………………………………………………………………………………

Arthur pulled up at the house and gave the second floor a pensive look before telling his sons to wait in the car.

"Dad!" Ron argued, "I should go at least."

"Alright, just you then," Arthur agreed irritably. Ron grinned as he jumped from the car.

"Then we're coming too!" said George predictably.

"You stay!" said Arthur, quickly moving to catch Ron before Fred and George could talk him around. He was more than a little conscious of the twin's last meeting with the Dursleys. How the odd family might react upon seeing the young wizards who'd hexed their son - making his tongue grow to monstrous proportions - was anyone's guess. Arthur didn't care to find out.

Ron reached the front door, hesitating with his fist poised to knock. Arthur caught up and followed his son's gaze to a button with the words "Please Ring" engraved above it.

"A doorbell!" he exclaimed, leaning in for a closer look. "I've seen these! Never had a chance to use one before though. Well, go ahead Ron."

"Doesn't look like a bell, does it?" Ron replied sceptically. "Just press it then?"

Arthur nodded encouragement and Ron jabbed his thumb into the button. They jumped as the whole house seemed to buzz. Ron grinned and tried holding the button down longer. This time the buzz was continuous.

The door flew open revealing a red faced Vernon Dursley - giving Arthur a frightening impression of a bull about to charge - and Ron took an instinctive step back, releasing the doorbell. Arthur smiled pleasantly.

"Hello, Mr Dursley," he said, trying to sound cheerful. "Nice to see you again, of course. Is Harry about?"

"Inside," Dursley spat out curtly, giving Arthur and Ron a disdainful once over. Arthur had dressed the part of a muggle for this occasion and was quite proud of the attention he'd paid to detail, but even so, something in his appearance seemed to be met with disapproval. "_You_, stay outside!" Dursley commanded roughly before moving off to fetch Harry.

Biting back the angry retort that sprung to mind at the man's rudeness, Arthur simply nodded as Ron started to turn red beside him. "We shouldn't have to wait long," he said, in an effort to placate his son. Ron snorted.

As it turned out, Arthur was right. Harry had been waiting at the foot of the stairs, packed and ready to go, and so appeared very quickly in the doorway. "Hello Mr. Weasly," he said, as he hurried out to greet them, weighed down with what looked like a mountain of trunk, broom and bird. It looked to Arthur as though the weight of Harry's things might make him topple in his haste to leave his uncle's house, so he quickly grabbed the sizable trunk.

"Hello Harry. Good to see you, as always. The car's out here, sent from the ministry. Wonderful things, cars … " Harry gave him a painful smile that said clearly _please let's just leave _and anything else Arthur might have wanted to say about cars was quickly forgotton. "Well," he said instead. "Say goodbye, and we'll be off!"

Harry nodded once, grateful. "See you," he said, in the vague direction of his uncle, before practically bolting for the car, Ron on his heels. Arthur bid Dursley a quick farewell and followed.

To his annoyance, Fred and George were no longer in their seats. Thankfully, it appeared as though they'd only left the car to stretch their legs and hadn't wandered far, but the sight of them standing about in the muggle street was worrying all the same. Vernon Dursley was now eyeing them nervously from the doorway of his house.

"All right there Harry?!" one of them yelled out, making Dursley scan the neighbourhood as though expecting snipers to emerge at the sound of his nephew's name being shouted.

Arthur saw Ron grin to Harry at the man's discomfort, clearly expecting his friend to respond in kind. Harry barely noticed. Instead, he quietly took a seat in the back of the car. Ron shot a suspicious look at Mr. Dursley before getting in after him. Vernon grunted and retreated into the house, slamming the door behind.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

The drive home was awkward, Ron coaxing Harry into conversation, Harry reluctant to string more than two words together and the twins, sensing something amiss, overcompensating with comical chatter. Arthur kept a concerned eye on the rearview mirror.

Harry had never been particularly loud or robust - unlike all seven of Arthur's own children - but while he often kept his thoughts to himself, Harry had always been a very active kid; alert and aware. Now he seemed to have retreated into himself. Not surprising, Arthur reflected sadly, considering what the boy had suffered.

Eventually, they arrived at The Burrow and trailed into the kitchen where Molly had prepared lunch. She, Percy and Ginny were already eating when the new arrivals joined them.

Arthur continued to watch subtly as Harry went through his food. His appetite certainly wasn't lacking, and somehow that made Arthur relax a little. There were still four weeks of Summer ahead; time for Harry to have a proper holiday away from his relatives.

As Ron and the twins goaded Harry into laughing at some joke or other, Arthur felt that The Boy Who Lived might be on the path to healing after all.

Of course, Harry was nothing if not resilient.


	2. Fred's discovery

**Disclaimer:** Everything you recognise belongs to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing and I am making no profit.

**Setting: **This story starts a couple of weeks after the end of GoF but after that goes a little AU.

**A/N:** This story is in the process of being edited. Basically I have had a lot of trouble finishing this story for various reasons, one of which is the cringe factor when I try to get back into it by reading old chapters. The plan is to fix it up chapter by chapter until I get to the point where I can simply continue writing the thing to completion. The story will still flow since I am changing none of the events which take place, and old fans don't need to read the new versions of each chapter to understand what's going on, but they will be uploaded for you to read if you like. I hope you enjoy them.

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**Chapter 2: Fred's Discovery**

"Do you think he's gotten better or worse?" asked George.

"Dunno," said Fred, wishing he had a better answer.

"Think we can do anything?"

"Well as it's not really a problem that can be solved with quidditch tips or Marauder's Maps, I'm not sure there's anything we _can_ do. I mean it _happened_. We can't erase his memory."

"Well, technically . . ." said George with a suggestive glint in his eye.

Fred threw a pillow at him. "Wouldn't do any good."

"Yeah," George admitted, glancing quickly at the space under his bed.

"We can't use it. It's seriously illegal," said Fred, giving the idea more consideration than his words would suggest.

"_And_ risky," George added thoughtfully.

The device had been offered to them by a questionable old salesman in Diagon Alley for one-hundred Galleons. The price was low - and that combined with the controversial nature of the product was enough to tell them it was stolen - but with newly acquired piles of gold jingling in their pockets they'd been feeling rather invincible, and so had accepted the deal with few qualms. Once they'd spent the money however, common sense had returned and the device had stayed hidden under George's bed with an invisibility charm placed on it. They hadn't discussed it since. Fred had hoped to high heaven their mother would never find it.

Now that George had actually raised subject again though, the possibility of actually using it felt a lot more real - more achievable. It was always that way with them.

Fred shook his head. "We could get in a lot of trouble," he said resignedly.

"And not just getting caught either," said George.

"Yeah," Fred agreed, thinking back to a particularly boring Defence Against the Dark Arts class. "All that stuff about the timelines. You're right. It's risky."

"Just think if we did it though," said George wistfully. "We could warn Harry about the portkey before he even went into the maze."

"Yeah," said Fred, feeling his remaining concerns on the matter becoming insignificant in the face of this fact. "We could stop You Know Who from ever coming back."

They stared at the space under the bed. They _knew_ they wouldn't do it. They were notorious troublemakers, but not criminals. They respected the really _important_ laws at least.

"Want to get some more of that magical hair curler from the bathroom downstairs? We can start on the bad hair biscuits we were talking about yesterday," George suggested out of the blue.

"Yeah, alright," said Fred, glad for the distraction.

He slipped out onto the rickety staircase. It was past midnight so he went quietly. Not that his footsteps would make much of a disturbance compared with the ghoul rattling around in the attic and the snores from Percy's room, but you couldn't be too careful with Molly Weasley in the house and none of the excuses that came to mind for needing magical hair curler were particularly believable.

Reaching the bathroom he deftly procured the product he needed, then froze as the quiet sound of a quill scratching across paper reached his ears. Curious, he followed the sound to the living room.

Sitting on a rug by the fireplace, his back to Fred, and oblivious to the world around him as he scribbled intently onto a bit of parchment, was Harry. He was writing by the light of the fire, the contours of his face – or what Fred could see of his face – lit eerily by the dying flames. His shadow stretched out across the floor.

Fred was immediately curious as to whom Harry might be writing to with such intensity. He and Ron had written to Hermione earlier that afternoon, filling her in on Harry's relocation, so it was unlikely that Harry would write her another letter so soon. He certainly wouldn't be writing to his family and he wasn't the type to be doing homework this early in the Summer. Was he writing to Hagrid perhaps? Or Dumbledore?

It was the last thought that drove Fred to inch closer, trying to see what Harry was writing without making his presence known. Now that he'd thought of it, it seemed very likely that Harry and Dumbledore would be in communication. Perhaps Harry knew something about this war that the rest of the 'children' did not. Perhaps Fred might read what it was.

Coming close enough to be able to see that Harry _was_ in fact writing a letter, Fred suddenly realized that it might be better to mind his own business. He was spying on his little brother's best friend! - the wizard who'd selflessly given him and George a thousand galleons without thinking twice. After a quick battle between his curiosity and his conscience Fred decided to leave well enough alone.

About to go back upstairs without making Harry aware of the fact that he was being observed, Fred took one last glance at the letter and froze - not because Harry had turned and seen him, but because he had seen _who_ the letter was addressed to.

Now _certain_ he didn't want his presence detected, Fred hastily retreated to his room, thinking furiously as he went.

"Did you get it?" asked George as Fred closed the door behind him and leaned back against it as though trying to block someone who might have followed him. George's expression turned to one of confusion as he caught the look on Fred's face. "What? What is it?"

"Harry's downstairs writing a letter," said Fred carefully, nodding in the direction of the living room. A feeling of unreality had come over him as the reality of what he'd just seen refused to register.

"Oh yes," said George, still confused.

"I uh, I had a look at it quickly," said Fred. "Harry didn't know I was there."

The last was said with pride and made George grin in appreciation of Fred's spying ability as he prompted: "Yeah?"

"Yeah, it was, um. It was addressed to …"

"Who? Dumbledore?" asked George, proving to Fred that great minds really _did_ think alike.

"No. It was …" _get to the point_ Fred told himself sternly, slightly horrified by his own stammering. "It was addressed to 'Sirius'." There. It was out there.

"Sirius?" repeated George, not getting it for a moment. "What? Sirius Black?"

"I don't know. Just - 'Sirius'. 'Dear Sirius'."

"Right." The implications slowly sunk in. "Well we don't know that's Sirius _Black_. I mean … why would Harry …?"

"It's not exactly a common name, is it?" Fred interrupted. He wandered away from the door and plonked himself down on his bed.

"No."

They sat together in silence, each thinking out the possibilities.

"Y'know I have a theory that You Know Who came back because of Black," said George. "I mean _think_ about it. He escapes from Azkaban, spends a year hanging around trying to get to Harry. Failing _that_ he spends the _next_ year trying to find the Dark Lord, manages that, and bam! Harry gets kidnapped and Cedric gets killed."

"Good theory," said Fred. "But why would Harry be writing to him?"

"Maybe Black got his trust somehow? Maybe he's playing him."

Fred nodded. "Makes sense," he said.

"What d'you reckon we should do? Tell Dad?"

"Yeah," said Fred. "Or Dumbledore maybe." The idea started to excite him as the possibilities became clear. "We give them information like _this_ they'd _have_ to start taking us seriously."

"You don't think we should talk to Harry about it?" asked George, making Fred feel a little guilty.

"Yeah. Maybe. How'd'you think he'd react though?"

"Depends what Black's said to him doesn't it? I mean he must at least have him convinced him he was innocent. Harry wouldn't write to a murderer."

"No. And we don't want to upset him. I mean you saw him. It's like he isn't even there. We don't want to make it worse."

Just then a snowy white owl flew by the window and off into the night - Hedwig delivering Harry's letter. They watched it thoughtfully.

Hours later a rooster crowed. The sun had risen. They hadn't slept.


	3. Turning point

**Disclaimer:** Everything you recognise belongs to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing, and I am making no profit.

**Setting: **This story starts a couple of weeks after the end of GoF, but after that goes a little AU.

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**Chapter 3: Turning Point**

Breakfast the next morning could not have been more awkward. Harry's mood hung over the table like an elephant in a corner and no one seemed sure of what to say. Even Fred and George were strangely quiet, watching Harry in a way that had Molly suspicious. Were they simply worried or had they done something to his food? If they had, Molly feared she might never find out what it was. Harry listlessly stirred his cornflakes, not taking a mouthful.

The only one who seemed completely oblivious to the general vibe of discomfort was Percy, who was trying very hard to start a conversation about the political ramifications of Dumbledore's decision to break away from the Ministry. "Madness it is! 'Weak as we are divided' he says, and then he divides the entire light side of magic into two distinct factions! I know he's supposed to be a genius and everything, but really! He's going just a bit too far with this. Don't you think mother?"

"What was that dear?" asked Molly distractedly. Harry was now lifting soggy cornflakes from his bowl, slowly twisting his spoon until they slid off, and watching, fascinated, as they dripped back into the milk. She frowned in concern.

"Are you listening Mother?" demanded Percy.

"No," said George rudely. "She's not."

"Mother!"

"Oh. Sorry, Percy dear," said Molly, reluctantly returning her attention to her son. "What were you saying?"

"Never mind," Percy huffed. He stuffed one more mouthful of egg and bacon into his mouth before disappearing up to his room, mumbling something about a report that had to be done.

Fred snorted derisively.

"Dumbledore knows what he's doing," Ron stated defiantly, glaring at the staircase up which Percy had just disappeared.

"Of course he does," said Molly.

Harry's cornflakes dripped into his bowl again. Little drops of milk splashed out onto the table. Harry stared at them. Everyone else stared at Harry. "I'm going to go do homework," he stated abruptly and stood to follow Percy up the staircase. Molly watched him go helplessly, completely at a loss as to what to do next. She'd already piled food upon him, made sure he had enough blankets and pillows on his camp bed, suggested the boys spend the afternoon playing quidditch - all things that usually cheered him up after weeks spent with his relatives – but none of it seemed to be working.

"Well?" She demanded of Ron, as though Harry's mood were _his_ doing.

"What?" asked Ron dumbly, his mouth full of mashed potatoes.

"Go see if he's alright!" she said crossly.

"But I'm eating," said Ron, with what appeared to be genuine confusion. Fred snorted again. Molly heard George stifle a laugh.

"Ron!" she said warningly, suddenly finding the lot of them extremely irritating.

"Alright, alright," Ron muttered, leaving what was left of his food in order to check on his friend.

"And you two seem unusually well behaved," Molly said to the twins as Ron's footsteps faded up the staircase. "What are you up to?"

Fred simply looked her in the eye, all humour forgotten. "We're worried Mum. Just like everyone else."

At this, Molly was contrite. "Oh. Of course you are dear … I'm sorry."

Fred grinned, "That's alright. We'll just make twice as much trouble for you after the crisis is over to make up for it."

Despite herself, Molly laughed quietly at that. "You'd better not!" she said.

"Got you smiling though," said Fred, still grinning.

Molly laughed again, her eyes dangerously close to spilling over with tears. "You two!" she said brokenly.

"It's okay Mum," said Ginny quietly. "We're okay you know."

Molly wiped her eyes. "You will be." She smiled, "Now you three at least should finish your breakfast. Go on then."

And so they did.

………………………………………………………………………………

Harry lay lethargically on his camp bed. He'd been left alone there while Ron went to have a shower. He felt odd: afraid of being left with his own morbid thoughts (the way he had been so often with the Dursleys), but also glad to be alone for a while. The worried glances and careful conversations were starting to get to him.

Ron - whose company Harry had missed terribly while stuck at Privet Drive - was beginning to annoy him. Harry felt certain that the question: _Are you all right_? was always on the tip of his friend's tongue. Ron didn't actually voice it - he was too afraid of upsetting Harry – but it hung in the air between them. Harry wished things could just go back to the way they were.

He wondered how Sirius was. Busy no doubt, rounding up 'the old crowd' as Dumbledore had called them. Harry worried that Sirius might be revealing himself to too many people in the process of recruiting them. After all, those Sirius had been sent to rally were no doubt devoted to the cause of bringing Voldemort down, and in the eyes of most of the wizarding community, Sirius was a Death Eater. Plus there was still a price on the fugitive's head - Fudge had seen to that - and Harry didn't think he'd be able to bear it if something bad happened to Sirius. He was Harry's light at the end of the tunnel: his chance for a happier home.

"Hey Harry? Are you in there?" called a voice from the other side of the door. _Fred_, thought Harry, _or possibly George_.

"Yeah," he called back, "Yeah, I'm in here."

The door opened and the twins waltzed in, taking up the small space of Ron's room as though they owned it.

"You know that gold you gave us?" said Fred smiling.

"Yeah, of course," said Harry. He brightened a bit. "Have you bought ingredients and stuff with it? Did you invent something new?" The thought pleased him. The impending opening of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes was something Harry anticipated with hope. Something he'd been sadly lacking of late.

"Well, not _invented," _said George. "Not _yet _anyway. But _bought? _ Absolutely. As our benefactor we thought you might like to come and see."

"Alright then," said Harry.

He followed them quickly down the stairs to their bedroom but stopped to stare as he entered. The room was strewn all over with bits and pieces of … well, everything. The floor was piled high with spellbooks, muggle electronics, potions ingredients, bubbling cauldrons, baking products, art supplies, order forms, and what looked like half of Zonkos dismantled over the floorboards. The twin's broomsticks leant against the far wall. Two unmade beds were barely identifiable under the chaos.

Harry stood still for fear of stepping on something that might explode. The twins however, navigated the room with confidant ease, and George was soon reaching under the closest bed for something Harry couldn't see.

"Close the door behind you," said Fred, motioning Harry further into the room. Harry quickly did as he was asked, then turned back to see George emerging from beneath the bed, pretending to hold something in his left hand. He presented the empty air to Harry with a proud flourish.

Sensing he was about to be pranked in some way, Harry felt himself become, at once, wary and glad. He was relieved that the twins felt able to joke around with him - their odd behaviour at the breakfast table had made him worried that they too were treating him like glass – but he was also loathe to be the victim of their fun. More than he ever had been before, he realised. Before Voldemort.

"What this?" he asked, suspiciously, trying to smile as he pushed the feeling away. He wouldn't let himself give in to it – give in to his torturer.

Fred pulled his wand out of pocket and pointed it at George's outstretched hand. "Unveil," he said, revealing that George was in fact holding a small, palm sized, wooden chest.

"What is it?" asked Harry, curious despite himself.

"This," said Fred, flicking the chest open dramatically and pulling out a tiny hourglass on a gold chain, "is a time turner!"

Harry regarded the object dubiously. Having once used a time turner to help Sirius escape from the law, he was more than aware of the legal implications of keeping one under the bed. An uneasy feeling began to creep into his chest.

Fred mistook Harry's silence for confusion and quickly launched into an excited explanation of exactly _what_ a time turner was designed to do.

"No, I know that," said Harry, cutting him off. "I've seen one before. I was just wondering where you got it."

"Weird guy in Diagon Alley," said George, retrieving the object from Fred and holding it up thoughtfully.

"What're you going to use it for?" asked Harry, cautiously.

"Not sure yet," said Fred casually. "We didn't really think about it."

"Then why are you showing it to me?"

Fred and George shared a look. "We just wanted you to see it mate. You know, so that you could see that your money was well spent and everything. Thought it might cheer you up a bit." He grinned amiably, but it seemed to Harry that the grin was a little false. Something here wasn't right. He didn't grin back.

"What's going on?" he asked. "Other then you two buying illegal magical devices, that is?"

Awkward silence followed that. Fred and George seemed to be taking in turns to look at him sideways as they tried to figure out what to say next. "We were going to bring it up eventually anyway," said Fred to George eventually. George only nodded quietly.

Having rarely seen the twins wearing such serious expressions, Harry felt the uneasy feeling in his stomach begin to twist into knots. "Bring up what?" he asked.

"Well," said George, "We were sort of hoping to get to this subtly, but … look - last night Fred was sneaking downstairs to get hair curler for a new product we're cooking up, and … well …" he looked to Fred.

"I noticed you writing a letter," said Fred.

"Oh," said Harry, still unsure where this was headed.

"I saw _who_ the letter was addressed to," said Fred flatly.

Harry felt the blood drain from his face.

"Look, Harry," said George. "We don't know exactly what's going on, but if you know where Black is you have to _tell_ someone. Dumbledore, or even someone at ministry."

"And if you don't, then _we'll_ have to," said Fred reasonably. It seemed to Harry that Fred was talking _down_ to him. _Like a child _he thought indignantly. "We'll have to let the Auror department know you're writing to him at least," Fred finished.

"You don't understand," said Harry, beginning to panic as the implications of this sunk in. "You don't know what's been going on! You can't tell anyone about this! Especially not at the ministry!"

"Harry … " said Fred placatingly.

"NOT A WORD! D'YOU HEAR?!" Harry shouted, now too distressed to listen.

George looked taken aback, and opened his mouth to say something, but as he did, Harry took a step forward to emphasize his point and George's expression turned to one of fear.

"Harry look out!" he cried, too late, as the wetstart firework went off beneath Harry's foot. Whatever the twins had been doing to it had made it respondent to pressure rather than water and Harry found himself flying across the room, parts of his skin burning painfully as colourful sparks and smoke filled the air.

…………………………………………………………………………….

As George watched in horror, Fred, who had also seen the accident occurring in advance, leapt toward Harry as the firework exploded. The two crashed noisily across the junk covered floor, obscured from George's view by the festive Catherine wheels and smoke.

A second later, George was hit with a gust of air that threw him painfully onto his back. He heard the tinkle of glass as the time turner slipped from his fingers and smashed. He then caught a quick glimpse of Fred helping Harry to his feet as the smoke cleared.

And then it happened. George felt as though he was watching the scene through someone else's eyes – or else dreaming - as a thick red cloud began to rise from the broken shards and scattered sand, obscuring Fred and Harry from sight.

A second later there was a loud _BANG_, and when the smoke cleared, Fred and Harry had vanished.

George sat alone, covered in soot and too shocked to move.


	4. Meet Mr Weasley

**Disclaimer:** Everything you recognise belongs to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing and I am making no profit.

**Setting: **This story starts a couple of weeks after the end of GoF, but after that goes a little AU.

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**Chapter 4: Meet Mr. Weasley**

Remus Lupin climbed the stairs to his dormitory, weary from a long night of study, and dreaming of his big, soft, four poster bed. He was therefore quite put out when he found Sirius Black sitting by the door, effectively blocking the entrance and playing with his wand in a bored manner.

"Can't go in," he said, without looking at Remus. "_Occupied."_

"Oh, they're _not_, are they?" said Remus, with an expression halfway between disgust and a grin.

Now Sirius _did_ look at him. "I'm glad _you_ find it amusing," he said. "I for one would like to sleep sometime tonight."

Remus chuckled. "Does James know you're out here?"

"No." Sirius smiled in a long suffering way. "And don't worry, they're not making out or anything. I just heard part of a private sounding conversation. Didn't want to interrupt. So I'm waiting for her to leave. They'll realize how late it is soon." He glanced at his watch.

Remus nodded, impressed by Sirius's apparent patience. It was not a virtue he often displayed. Then again, it _was_ James on the other side of that door. It sometimes seemed to Remus that Sirius lived by a whole other set of rules where James was concerned. He settled in beside his friend, thinking that if '_soon'_ didn't occur within the next two minutes, _he_ would simply enter the dormitory anyway, regardless of how private the conversation was. Sleep waited for no budding romance in Remus's opinion. Especially this close to NEWTS.

"Where's Peter?" he asked presently. "Kitchens?"

Sirius scowled. "Our little Wormtail is off with Madame Pomfrey with a bad case of wobbly legs."

"Wobbly legs?" asked Remus, not at all sure he wanted to know.

"Mmm. Got partnered up with Snape in that Slytherin Defense Against the Dark Arts class. You know, the one he had to take to catch up. He'll be okay by tomorrow."

At mention of Snape, the pair fell silent. Remus had the distinct impression that Sirius was biting back the impulse to say something _very_ nasty, and wasn't sure whether to feel gratified that he was holding back, or irritated that it should take such an effort.

Just then, a voice drifted from the dormitory: "I don't think this is just some Hogwarts romance, I think …"

Remus failed to hear the rest, as Sirius rolled his eyes and began humming loudly to the tune of the U.K. Quidditch team song. Remus smiled, his irritation forgotten. He knew Sirius didn't want to listen to James and Lily's private conversations any more than he did. He also knew that Sirius had now had enough of waiting, and in addition to drowning out James's declarations of undying love, the volume of humming was intended to alert James to their presence.

Before James could realize what the humming meant and let them in, the common room portrait hole was flung open, admitting a flustered Professor McGonnagal. From the landing outside the dormitory, Remus and Sirius had a good view of her as she searched the empty common room for stragglers. Seeing no-one at eye level, she tutted to herself in frustration and made to leave. Sirius and Remus exchanged a curious look. Remus shrugged.

"Up here Professor!" Sirius called down, before she could close the portrait behind her.

"Oh!" she said, turning back, startled to see the two boys gazing down expectantly from the landing. "Mr. Black! Mr. Lupin!"

"Did you need something Professor?" Sirius asked helpfully.

"I wanted to see Mr. Potter actually," she said. "If, of course, he is still awake?"

"No, he's asleep," Sirius lied. "Can _we_ help you with anything?"

"Ah, well. Yes, in fact," said McGonnagal, nodding thoughtfully. "Yes, if our head boy is asleep I may ask for some assistance from one of you instead. Could one of you volunteer to come with me to Professor Dumbledore's office please? I'll explain on the way."

She waited expectantly. Sirius and Remus exchanged a look. Remus knew perfectly well that Sirius had only called out to McGonnagal because he believed something terribly interesting must have occurred to bring her here. Now, as McGonnagal tapped her foot impatiently, it seemed quite clear that she'd merely come to fetch someone to assist her with some mundane task. Remus suddenly felt very irritated with James for being so _occupied_.

"I'll go," he said resignedly. He knew Sirius would not volunteer. "Hit James over the head with a pillow for me when he finally opens the door will you?" he whispered as he stood to leave. Sirius grinned as Remus followed McGonnagal out into the passageway.

"May I ask what this is about Professor?" asked Remus, as they hurried up a staircase. McGonnagal was marching full speed ahead and Remus was struggling to keep up without jogging.

"It's been kept fairly quiet until now Mr. Lupin," she said tightly. "And I must ask you to keep it that way, but earlier today … " she suddenly caught herself and glanced about the staircase as though someone might be listening. The staircase was empty. She looked critically at Remus. "We'll discus it when we reach the Headmaster's office," she said.

Remus nodded, his curiosity again piqued by the apparent secrecy. Something strange was happening here after all. Nothing over alarming he surmised, closely regarding his professor. She wasn't distressed. Distracted perhaps, but not distressed. He'd already figured out that it was nothing associated with Death Eaters from the fact that _his_ presence had seemed a perfectly good substitute for James's - if McGonnagal had come to Gryfindor tower to tell James that the dark mark had been seen over his parent's house, she would hardly have asked Remus or Sirius to join her in James's place – but what else might be happening that could not be discussed in the halls? And why the late hour?

Dumbledore's office was a place Remus was all too familiar with, due in part to his many meetings with the headmaster during his first year at Hogwarts - Dumbledore had been keen to keep a close eye on the progress of Hogwart's first werewolf – but also due to the many times he'd been sent there after being talked into one of James or Sirius's ridiculous, rule breaking schemes. It was refreshing to know that _this_ visit would not include reprimands from the Headmaster.

He followed McGonnagal's hasty progress past the gargoyle, up the moving staircase and through into the office itself. Dumbledore was behind his desk, apparently speaking to a stocky, red haired boy whom Remus didn't know. The boy turned to face them as they entered, his eyes inexplicitly widening in recognition at the sight of Remus.

"Mr. Potter was asleep Headmaster," said McGonnagal stiffly. "Mr. Lupin was kind enough to attend in his place."

Dumbledore nodded, smiling widely at Remus.

"Thank-you Minerva. I'll take it from here."

McGonnagal nodded curtly and exited.

Remus looked at Dumbledore expectantly.

"Have a seat Remus," he said kindly, gesturing to a comfortable looking chair next to the red haired boy.

Remus did so, trying to smile in a friendly way at the other boy who was now grinning in his direction, making him quite uncomfortable.

"Remus Lupin, meet Fred Weasley," said Dumbledore by way of introduction. Remus, still unsure of what was going on, held out his hand for Fred to shake. Fred, still grinning, reached out and took the offered hand firmly.

"Good to meet you mate," he said, the twinkle in his eye suggesting he was in on some joke that Remus wasn't.

Dumbledore watched the exchange with odd expression.

Remus turned back to the Headmaster, trying to let his expression convey that he'd like an explanation as to what this was all about.

"Now, Remus," said Dumbledore, tucking away the odd look and getting down to business. "Fred shall be joining you and your friends in Gryffindor tower over the next week. He will attend seventh year classes with you, and he will be staying in the seventh year dormitory. I expect you and your fellow students will show him hospitality and make his stay with us a pleasant one. I must also ask you to refrain from questioning him about his origins."

Remus nodded slowly, now looking at Fred with newly intensified curiosity. Who _was_ this boy?

Dumbledore noted the look and sighed. "I already see that my last instruction is unlikely to be followed, so I will elaborate a little."

Fred opened his mouth as if about to speak, but Dumbledore cut him off quickly:

"Let _me_, Mr. Weasley." Fred nodded in deference to Dumbledore with exaggerated gallantry that made the Headmaster smile in amusement. "I suppose the best way to avoid having you questioned to death by your housemates would be to explain that you are a time traveller."

"_Accidental_ time traveller," Fred qualified for Remus, who had raised his eyebrows in respect.

"Yes, accidental," Dumbledore confirmed. "An incident involving a time turner and a stray firework I'm afraid." Remus thought Fred looked a little guilty at this. "He has travelled some years into the past of his own time," Dumbledore continued, pausing to give Remus an intent look. Remus took this as his cue to speak.

"So, you don't want us to ask questions because we might find out something about our own futures," he said, thinking out loud. "That would upset the timelines."

Dumbledore smiled proudly. "That's correct Mr. Lupin. Ten points to Gryffindor."

Remus frowned. "But doesn't Fred's very presence in this time upset the timelines Professor?"

Dumbledore's smile became sad. "Yes, I'm afraid it does Mr Lupin. That's why Fred will be remaining with us for an entire week. Professor Downing is working on a potion for our young friend to drink. It will take some time to brew correctly, but the potion will, if all goes well, take him back to his own time _and_ reverse any effect he may have had on the timelines. However, the more he influences or facilitates changes to the path on which destiny and fate were intended to take us, the less likely it is that this potion will be a success. Do you both understand?"

They nodded.

"Remus, you are to keep Fred's origins a secret. Do not question him. If at all possible discourage your fellow students from questioning him."

"Yes, Professor."

"And you, Fred."

"Yes, Sir?"

"However tempting it may become to change the past, or impart knowledge of the future, you must remember that your chances of returning to your own time, and finding it unchanged will diminish if you do so. You may, by imparting a seemingly unimportant piece of information, jeopardize your very chances of being born."

Fred gulped.

"I trust it will not come to that," the Headmaster added.

Remus felt glad that he was not in Fred's position, and wondered whether or not it might be safer for Fred to be confined to a room by himself for a week. Then he wondered if Dumbledore might not have some ulterior motive for allowing Fred to mingle with the other students. Since the war had begun, Remus had not failed to see just how wily the old man could be.

As Dumbledore dismissed them and Remus lead the way back to the common room, he decided that he would simply trust Dumbledore's motives - whatever they proved to be in the end.


	5. Moony, Padfoot and Prongs

**Disclaimer:** Everything you recognise belongs to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing and I am making no profit.

**Setting: **This story starts a couple of weeks after the end of GoF, but after that goes AU.

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**Chapter 5: Moony, Padfoot and Prongs**

Fred watched his old teacher walking along the passage before him. Remus Lupin was shorter than he'd been the last time Fred had seen him, and, if possible, slightly thinner. Healthier too. Life had not yet marked this Remus Lupin the way it had his older counter-part. His hair was a light brown; his face unlined.

They reached a t-intersection in the passageway and Lupin paused, allowing Fred to catch him up. "Lead on," he said, motioning for Fred to walk before him.

Fred realized that in a round about way, Lupin was asking if Fred was a Gryffindor in his own time. If Fred knew the way it would prove he _was_. Well _that_, or that he was a member of some other house who'd managed to sneak into the Gryffindor common room at some point in his Hogwarts career.

Fred gave Lupin a wink to let him know he understood the ploy, and dutifully took the correct passage.

"Just checking," said Lupin, moving to follow. Fred could hear the smile in his voice.

"So," said Fred, thinking this was as good a time as any to ask the question that had been gnawing at him since Lupin had arrived in Dumbledore's office. "McGonnagal said she was going to fetch 'the Head Boy'," he glanced at Lupin who nodded impassively. "When she came back, she said: 'Mr. Potter wasn't available'. Would that be _James_ Potter then?"

"Yes," said Lupin mildly. "James is Head Boy."

Fred nodded and fell silent. He had suspected as much, but the confirmation still made him nervous. James might be sleeping _now_, but he would be awake in the morning, and Fred wasn't sure he'd be able to look him in the eye when he was.

Harry had not appeared in the halls of Hogwarts with Fred.

They'd both been transported from their own time - Fred was sure of that - but they had not arrived together, and Fred had no idea where Harry was now. He could be in the Dark Ages for all Fred knew.

Fred had told Dumbledore of course, and the old wizard had promised to do his best to find the boy, but Fred still feared Harry might be lost forever. This worried him as a surrogate older brother, but also as a young wizard who'd grown up with the legend of Harry Potter Though he'd never say it aloud, especially to Harry himself, Fred was one of those who felt deep down that Harry was the only one who could save them from Voldemort. Without Harry … he didn't want to dwell on it.

Lupin was watching him. "James isn't so frightening you know," he said.

Fred felt his insides twist - if only he knew.

"Sirius is much worse," Lupin continued with a wry smile.

Fred gripped Lupin's arm, stopping him in his tracks. "Who?!"

"So you know him then," said Lupin carefully, frowning and biting his lip.

"Sirius _Black_?"

Lupin nodded. "Mmm hmm."

"_Sirius Black_ was in Gryffindor with _you_ and James Potter?!"

Lupin stared. Dumbledore had told him not to question Fred, but Fred was making it awfully difficult for him. Eventually he seemed to come to a decision.

"Look, Fred. I don't know what you know, or what's going to happen, but whatever it was - or will be - you can't go reacting to things like this when you reach Gryffindor Tower. My friends weren't there when Dumbledore told us about the timelines. They won't understand how important it is that we don't ask questions. You even _hint_ to James or Sirius that you know something about their futures, they will pester you until you tell them everything you know. They don't take things too seriously those two. So just be careful."

Suddenly faced with a Remus Lupin far more like the Professor he'd known, Fred found himself smiling despite it all. This slight boy, about his own age, was lecturing him after only having known him a few minutes. No wonder Dumbledore had hired him.

"Right then," said Fred, releasing Lupin's arm. "How 'bout I tell them they're famous quidditch players, aurors, Ministers for Magic, and general all 'round celebrities. That way they won't know what to believe."

Lupin snorted. "Knowing them they'll believe _all_ of it. Arrogant gits."

They reached the portrait of the fat lady.

"Dragon Hide," Lupin told her.

"Out late again?" she asked. "Where are the other three then?"

"Hopefully all asleep," said Lupin, sounding very much like he'd like to be asleep himself.

The portrait swung open.

"It's barely changed," Fred remarked as they entered, eyeing the banners, staircases and fireplaces. "Those chairs are different though." He pointed at a group of squishy red couches.

"I like those chairs," Lupin remarked with a yawn. He started up the boy's staircase. "Dormitory's up here."

Sounds of yelling and laughing reached their ears as they approached the seventh year dorm.

"Oh Lord," said Remus quietly. "You'll have to excuse the idiocy that goes on around here."

Fred nodded grimly, his hands balling into fists as he realized he'd probably be meeting James and Sirius sooner than expected. Lupin opened the door and got hit square in the jaw with a pillow.

"Sorry!" yelled a tall boy with familiar dark hair and glasses, not sounding sorry at all. He grabbed another pillow from the nearest bed and hurled it at a second dark haired boy, who had somehow gotten hold of an invisibility cloak and seemed to be missing a torso. The second boy laughed as he deflected the pillow with an elbow, picked up a practice quaffel, and chucked it back at the first boy.

Lupin stepped forward, wand raised. "Inanament!" he cried, stopping the ball dead in the air before the first boy even had a chance to duck.

"Oh, come on Moony!" the second boy cried through laughter. "He kept _you_ out in the hallway too with the whole -" he stood up straight and began to gesture like a Shakespearian actor, "Lily! Lily! Where fore art thou … um, hi," he dropped the act, slightly embarrassed, and gave Fred a little wave.

"Who's your friend?" asked James (he couldn't be anyone else) trying not to laugh as the second boy struggled to get himself untangled from the invisibility cloak.

"This is Fred -" said Lupin. He paused, seemingly unsure how he should continue.

"Fred Weasley," said Fred, coming to his rescue and holding out a hand for James to shake.

"James Potter," said James, smiling as he took it. He nodded at his friend. "And that's Sirius," he said, confirming Fred's uncomfortable suspicion.

Sirius was carefully folding up the cloak and placing it in a drawer. When he was done he walked back to the group and also stuck out a hand.

"Hi," he said with a crooked smile.

The next few seconds were odd as Fred tried to decide what to do. In no way did he want to take the hand of a future Death Eater and shake it as though they were about to be the best of friends - but _not_ shaking it, that would lead to questions. Seconds ticked away and Fred's hesitation extended uncomfortably. He saw James raise an eyebrow at Lupin.

Lupin shifted uneasily.

Sirius's welcoming smile faded and he fixed Fred with a challenging look. He wasn't going to withdraw the offer of a handshake until Fred either shook the hand or openly rejected it. Fred met his gaze and held it as he finally gripped the offered hand.

The room temperature seemed to have dropped a few degrees.

The handshake ended and Fred and Sirius continued staring each other down, Fred trying to associate the icy blue eyes and handsome face with the raving lunatic he knew so well from the wanted posters. Struck by the horror of the impending transformation he was the first to look away.

Sirius turned to Lupin with a triumphant smirk. "He's not a student, is he?"

Lupin made to answer but Fred got in first: "I will be in about, ah . . . twelve years time." He grinned bitterly, trying very hard now to shake off the awkwardness of it all but not succeeding terribly well. Damn it. And he had a full week of this ahead of him. Fantastic.

"Twelve years?" asked James.

"You've time travelled," said Sirius, making it sound like an accusation.

Fred nodded. "You're quick," he said acidly.

"So they tell me," Sirius agreed, deadpan.

Lupin coughed loudly. They all turned to face him.

"We're not supposed to question him. Dumbledore said it might be dangerous. You know with all that stuff about -"

"Timelines," James finished for him. "We might change the way something is supposed to happen if we know too much."

"Right."

Sirius eyed Fred thoughtfully. "So, you're supposed to be born pretty soon," he surmised.

"That's right," said Fred, sounding more defensive than he would have liked.

"Hmm," said Sirius, in a dangerously speculative sort of way.

Lupin gave him a dirty look.

"I'm just burning with questions I can't ask," said James, seemingly oblivious to Sirius's veiled threat. "Like, how does the war turn out? How long does it last? No don't answer," he said, seeing Fred's mouth open. "I get why we can't ask."

"He's already told me he's a Gryffindor," said Remus helpfully, "That's why Dumbledore put him in here with us." A look passed between Lupin and Sirius as he said this, communicating something Fred was unable to follow.

"Well then he's extra welcome, " said James bracingly.

"Nice to be wanted," said Fred, glancing sideways at Sirius.

James and Lupin had no way of knowing what their friend really was, and Fred wasn't about to tell them. They were safe for now. History had seen them through Hogwarts alive. Fred was more concerned about his own safety. He'd be sleeping lightly as long as he was forced to sleep in this room. Sirius had surprised him by seeming so normal for a moment there - the way he had teased James had been all too familiar - but the way Sirius was staring at him _now_, chilled him to the bone.

"So, which bed do I take?" he asked, covering anxiety with an exaggerated yawn.

"Peter's I suppose," Lupin answered. "I guess they'll bring another bed up while we're in class tomorrow. Good thing Peter's off with Madam Pomfrey."

"Yeah, whatever," said Sirius darkly.

"We'll get Snape later," James promised. Though he didn't sound very enthusiastic about it and Fred noticed he gave Lupin a very guilty look as he said it.

Ten minutes later all four boys lay awake in separate beds.

It was Fred's first night without his twin sleeping somewhere in the same room.


	6. James and Fred

**Disclaimer:** Everything you recognise belongs to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing and I am making no profit.

**Setting: **This story starts a couple of weeks after the end of GoF, but after that goes AU.

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**Chapter 6: James and Fred:**

Four days had passed since Fred's arrival and James had developed a genuine liking for him. He was quick witted, quick to laugh and better than even James himself at finding the joke in any situation.

He had also taken an instant disliking to Snape - which James couldn't help but approve of - taking every opportunity to make the hook nosed git the butt of every joke. Admittedly it would have been far more amusing a year ago - after the events of the previous year James found it less so, as did Remus if his strangled smiles were anything to judge by - but it was still a definite tick in the Fred column.

Sirius certainly found it highly amusing. A good thing, James reflected, as Fred and Sirius were at odds at all other times. Sirius seemed to view every conversation with Fred as a battle, using his scathing tongue as handily as he might ordinarily have used his wand. Fred, for his part, was steering clear of Sirius as much as possible, though James hadn't failed to notice the loaded looks - looks that seemed to question Sirius's right to be alive.

James guessed something about Sirius's future was at the root of the tension. He knew Sirius thought the same. He hadn't said so, but James knew him well enough to understand. His verbal attacks on Fred were not, as Fred might have assumed, the result of injured pride at the refusal of a well intended handshake. Rather, they were a symptom of deeper fears stirred up by Fred's antagonism. Sirius was - and had been for a long time - afraid of _himself_.

Even after running away from home, Sirius was haunted by the legacy of his family. He saw in himself the very darkness he detested in others and worked hard at fighting it. Now he was afraid he'd one day lose the battle. James wanted to shake him and tell him how ridiculous he was being – that Sirius could never and would never turn to the Dark Arts - but since he could think of no other explanation for Fred's behaviour, he held back. Now he was wondering if questioning Fred on the matter might not be such a bad idea after all.

Sirius wouldn't do it, not because he cared about the timelines - he had never been one for respecting the natural order of things – but because he knew how irritated Remus would be if he broke the rules. Since the incident with Snape and the whomping willow, Sirius had been walking on eggshells around Remus. Knowing that Remus had taken Dumbledore's instructions regarding timelines very seriously he was now making the extra effort to keep his questions to himself, despite what it was costing him. James knew Remus was more important to Sirius than Remus had ever realised.

No. If anyone was going to get information out of Fred it was going to be James.

He vowed not to ask anything too hard hitting: perhaps just a few questions about Fred himself, to find out where he was coming from. If that happened to lead to James figuring out why Fred disliked Sirius so much then that would be okay wouldn't it? He knew he couldn't just ask for the answers he wanted- he didn't want to be responsible for causing a disturbance in the space-time continuum – but a few small details couldn't hurt. Besides, if Fred continued to stir Sirius up this way, Sirius might end up doing something drastically out of character. Wouldn't _that_ be just as damaging to the timelines as revealing too much information?

James believed so, and that's how he found himself watching Fred from across the commonroom, preparing to start what promised to be a very awkward conversation.

He'd picked his time carefully. He'd noticed that Fred had taken to going to bed quite late. He was always the last to reach the dormitory and - now James came to think on it - the first to awake in the mornings. He was now sitting alone by the fireplace, staring into the flames, completely unaware of James's quiet presence. As all the lamps were out, the only light coming from Fred's fire, this was not surprising. Peter, Sirius and Remus, along with the rest of Gryffindor, were already in bed.

James approached unobtrusively and sat himself in an armchair. Fred glanced over and gave him a half smile.

"Hey."

"Hey."

They sat in companionable silence for a moment and it occurred to James that Fred might be missing people from his own time. He tried to imagine himself at a Hogwarts out of his own era, without the marauders or Lily.

"You missing people from home?"

Fred looked up in surprise. Clearly James was right on the money.

"Yeah, actually," he said, nodding gravely.

"Anyone in particular?"

Fred considered that with a smirk before replying: "My identical twin brother, George,"

James stared. "Are you kidding?"

Fred grinned. "No."

"That's fantastic," said James, the possibilities parading before his mind. "You could pull all sorts of stunts with that. Do you ever switch places?"

"Er, not so much. It's more of a running gag than something we use an awful lot to trick people. It's a bit dishonest you know?"

"Yeah, I guess," said James, feeling slightly ashamed. He wondered if there was a part of him that would always love to make trouble, and whether or not that was a bad thing. Lily had always claimed it was. But then again, Lily had always smiled at his crazier stunts when she thought his back was turned. She couldn't help it. It was one of the things he loved most about her.

Fred was looking thoughtful. "I need to ask you something important."

"Go ahead," said James, thinking an exchange of important questions might be just the thing here.

"You know that note we passed around in transfiguration?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I noticed you signed it 'Prongs'. What did that mean?"

"Just a nickname," James answered casually.

"The others. They've got nicknames too?"

"Er, yeah, they do," said James, now starting to feel a little uncomfortable. Sure he wanted information from Fred, but this line of questioning was headed in a bad direction.

"Not 'Wormtail', 'Moony' and 'Padfoot' by any coincidence?"

James nodded slowly. "What do you know about it?"

"In our first year at Hogwarts, George and I stole a very detailed map from Filch's office. Your nicknames are all quite prominent on it."

James laughed loudly in open relief. "So," he said, "The marauder's map finds its way to the next generation of Hogwarts troublemakers. Fantastic! Do you still have it?"

"Nah," said Fred cheerfully, "Know it by heart now don't we. We gave it to a young man in need of a way out of the castle - and a little corrupting." He lapsed into sudden melancholy.

"Sirius is 'Padfoot'," said James slyly, trying to bring the conversation around to the desired topic.

"Yeah," said Fred sourly.

"That's a bad thing?" James could now feel Fred's anger bubbling just below the surface, the way it always did where Sirius was concerned.

Quite suddenly he stood and started pacing. "It's ridiculous that I can't change anything!" he growled in frustration. The firelight flickered through his flaming hair, the shadows hiding his face in an oddly disquieting way. James felt an unexpected prickle of fear. "I mean I'm right here! Right when things are being put in motion but I'm completely helpless. I can't change a thing! I'm just sitting here, with _you_ of all people! Just watching it all happen. I heard Peter talking about You Know Who with Lupin and I …"

He stopped, quite as suddenly as he had started, one finger still raised in the air to illustrate his point. James just stared, trying to take it all in. Slowly Fred's gaze came back to him.

"Moony!" he said, as though he'd just had a revelation.

"No," said James nervously. "It's 'Prongs'. I'm '_Prongs_'. Remus is 'Moony'. _I'm_ 'Prongs'."

Fred shook his head and grinned. "No, I know, I just … _That'_s why he's called Moony! Oh that's funny!" he started to laugh.

James felt every muscle in his body tense. "How do you know about Remus?" he asked in measured tones.

Fred stopped laughing. "It's not such a secret in the future. Quite a few people know," he said dismissively.

James gave him a hard look. "Just don't go spreading it around here. It'll go badly."

Fred frowned, but nodded. "What do you take me for?" he asked.

James hesitated. "I'm not sure," he said at last. His enthusiasm for asking questions was gone. "I'm going to bed."

He climbed the staircase and entered the dormitory. He took a long moment to look at Remus's four poster. The werewolf was hidden behind the curtains, but James could picture him. Fast asleep and completely harmless.

Sometimes life was very unfair.


	7. Talk in the dungeon

**Disclaimer:** Everything you recognise belongs to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing and I am making no profit.

**Setting: **This story starts a couple of weeks after the end of GoF, but after that goes AU.

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**Chapter 7: ****Talk in the Dungeon**

Sirius woke to find he couldn't breath and quickly deduced that James had clamped a hand over his face. James put a finger to his lips, and when Sirius nodded, removed the hand. Sirius looked at his watch.

"James, it's four in the morning," he whispered - then smiled. "What are we planning?"

"Just a talk," said James. "Commonroom. Come on."

He slipped out through the curtains leaving Sirius alone to dress. Sirius had started sleeping naked around fourth year and James, conservative by nature, was always careful about granting him his privacy.

A minute later Sirius stumbled sleepily into the commonroom. "What's this about?" he asked as he spied James standing alone by the dying fireplace, his arms crossed tightly over his chest, his gaze on his feet as he rocked on his heels.

"Fred," he said.

Sirius's mouth snapped shut mid-yawn. Suddenly he was very awake. James had managed to put a lot of meaning into that one word and Sirius knew him well enough to see immediately where this was going. Part of him, the part that usually listened to Remus, wanted to put a stop to it right now; to warn James about timelines and consequences. The rest of him was just relieved that James seemed to have made this decision for them. "You _talked_ to him," he said: a statement, not a question.

James glanced around the room, jittery with pent up nerves. "He knows about Remus," he said.

Sirius shook his head. "What?" he asked stupidly. He'd been expecting a revelation about _himself_, not Moony.

"He knows about the lycanthropy deal," said James.

Sirius tried to make his brain work. The presence of a person who may or may not have intimate knowledge of his future, who regarded him with unmistakable revulsion, was beginning to wear him down, and now _this_?

"And the animagus deal?" he asked. "He know about _that_?" If Fred spread it around that Remus was a werewolf the worst that could happen was Remus's expulsion. If Fred divulged information about the risks the Marauders had taken under full moons, Remus might be pulled up in front of the committee for the disposal of dangerous creatures again. Sirius doubted the committee would be so lenient _twice_.

James sighed. "If he does, he didn't say anything."

Sirius took a steadying breath. "Well, he _can't_ say anything, can he? I mean _you_ already know so he was safe telling you, but anyone else and he's messing around with the timelines."

James nodded, still tense. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah, you're probably right."

"Might have a chat to him though," said Sirius thoughtfully. "You know. Just to make sure he's clear on this."

The image of Remus lying in the hospital wing, looking for all the world like a blood stained mummy, was something that Sirius would never forget. After sensing two potential victims, James and Snape, in the tunnel below, Remus's werewolf side had torn itself apart. Sirius had been responsible for that near tragedy, but in no way would he allow history to repeat itself. He remembered the look; the look he had vowed never to see again on Remus's face. The look that said: _"I will never truly trust another human being again"._

"I wasn't sure if I should tell Remus," said James, with a nod back toward the dormitory.

"Don't. He's got enough to worry about."

James studied Sirius intently for a moment, and frowned at whatever he saw there. He seemed on the verge of saying something then shook his head. "Fred acts pretty weird around you Sirius. Don't do anything I wouldn't."

"And _why_ does he act like a git with _me_?" Sirius demanded. "What could I possibly have _done_ to him?"

"I don't know!" said James, with unexpected force and frustration, giving Sirius a great feeling of satisfaction. Sirius had been feeling quite alone in this battle of wills he'd been having with Fred but now it appeared that James at least was on his side. "I was trying to get him to talk last night but somehow we ended up discussing _Moony_ rather than you."

"But you _tried_ to get him to talk?" said Sirius, smiling now despite it all. "Timelines be damned?"

James was very serious: "I think finding out what happened is more important. Something isn't right here."

Sirius would never have admitted it, but at that moment his heart welled up to the size of a watermelon. Things had been so strained since the incident with Snape. He, Remus and James had done their best to act like nothing had changed, but the truth was: _everything_ had. Gone was the comfortable laughter, the easy trust. They'd been replaced by forced gaiety and polite distance. At a time in his life when Sirius had most needed his friends; when he'd rejected his family and all they stood for, Sirius had found himself floating out there alone. Oh, James and his family had been there of course, but it hadn't been the same. But _now_, James seemed to be declaring Sirius's problems more important than the stability of fate itself, and if that wasn't a huge step toward things going back to the way they'd been, Sirius didn't know what was.

He smiled gratefully at James. "Don't worry mate. I'll be careful."

……………………………………………………

Fred wandered through a passageway on the third floor having gotten away from the Marauders for a while in order to explore the castle. He'd always thought of Hogwarts as a living entity, growing and evolving, and he was interested in discovering how it'd changed over the last twenty years. He'd already checked out three steps that had been enchanted to let you fall right through them in his own time, only to find them perfectly ordinary now. He wondered who might enchant them and why. It occurred to him that one of the Marauders might yet be behind it.

A few days ago that thought might have made him laugh. Now it just made him feel bitter. Knowing that one of his former heroes had turned out to be a Death Eater just sucked all the joy from it.

He reached a tapestry of a giant smashing the heads of two wizards together and tapped on it with his wand. Nothing happened. _Alright then_, he thought. _Clearly this secret passageway has yet to be made._

"You have to tap it _six_ times,"

Fred whipped around so fast he thought he might have damaged his neck. "Sirius!"

Sirius, who was standing just a little too close for Fred's comfort, smiled blandly. Fred tried to relax. "In my time you only have to give it three. Guess the spell starts to wear thin over time." Sirius nodded and said nothing. It was completely unnerving. "So!" Fred continued with forced cheerfulness. "Were you looking for me, or … trying to find your way to the Slytherin commonroom?"

Sirius held up a piece of parchment. It took Fred a few moments to realize that it was in fact the Marauder's Map. It was almost unrecognisable. It lacked the ancient, worn and stained look that had always been such a part of its appeal.

"Heard you knew about this," said Sirius. "Among other things."

Fred tried to stay calm. He was alone in a deserted corridor with a serial killer. He had to stay calm.

Sirius reached for his wand and Fred tensed, going for his own wand as Sirius simply leaned forward and opened the secret passage. An irritated look passed over Sirius's face as the tapestry rolled itself up to reveal the dank, cobwebbed tunnel, and Fred felt very stupid for over-reacting.

Sirius bent down to enter the tunnel. "You coming?" he called, once the darkness had swallowed him.

Fred regarded the passage dubiously. It was a shortcut to the dungeons and it came out in the cell next to the potions classroom. Every instinct was telling him _not_ to follow Sirius in there.

"Lumos," said Sirius, shining the light from his wand directly into his chin, lighting his face in the most grotesque fashion. Fred suspected he'd done this on purpose to scare him and found his fears evaporating at the childish gesture.

"All right then," he said, rising to the implied challenge, entering the tunnel and pulling the tapestry down behind him. They walked in uncomfortable silence.

Reaching the end of the tunnel, Sirius cast a quick spell, forcing a trapdoor to reveal itself over his head. He shoved it open and swung himself up into the empty classroom above. Fred followed and sealed the trapdoor behind them, watching it fade into the floor before turning to face an expectant Sirius. They were now alone in a disused dungeon, and Fred could feel the oncoming confrontation.

"Do they use this room for anything in your time Weasley?" asked Sirius, deceptively casual.

"I think Filch has plans to convert it into a torture chamber," said Fred.

Sirius barked out a laugh. "Fitting," he said.

"Are you going to tell me why we're here?" asked Fred, in no mood for small talk.

Sirius nodded. "I want to know what you're _about_ Weasley," he said.

"What _I'm_ about?" said Fred, on the verge of incredulity. "You might want to be a bit more _specific_, Black."

"You know what I'm talking about," said Sirius. "What was it? What _is_ it that's got your knickers in a twist? Do I become a professional Beater and thrash your favourite team at the Quidditch World Cup? Was I an Auror who survived the battle where your father was killed? Will I become a professor and have an illicit affair with your underage sister? What, in Merlin's name, _is_ it, that has you _hating_ me this way?"

Fred glared, anger filling every corner of him. The crimes Sirius listed were so minor in comparison to the truth that it made his blood boil. _This_ Sirius, this young Sirius, would grow to be a monster, and although he didn't realise it - had no _concept_ of it - he had just trivialized the deaths of his victims. Peter's death. James and Lily's deaths. The image of James and Sirius fooling around in History of Magic, grinning and nudging each other over Peter's ridiculous attempts to get some girl's attention, Lily smiling as she pretended not to notice, made Fred want to scream. Instead he forced his voice to a dangerous calm.

"You'll never be an _Auror_ Black, _or_ a professional Quidditch player, and if you ever, EVER, come near my sister, I will _kill_ you."

The blood drained from Sirius's face. Whatever he'd expected Fred to do or say it wasn't _this_. He raised his wand in a shaking hand and aimed it at Fred's chest. A sick, satisfied look came over him as he saw the panic in Fred's eyes. "Tell me what happened," he said, through clenched teeth.

Now faced with an angry future serial killer on the verge of doing him some serious violence, Fred didn't waste any time. Not even bothering to raise his own wand he lunged out, gripped Sirius's wand in his left hand, pointed it toward the wall and punched with his right. The far wall shattered as Sirius reflexively shouted a curse.

Shocked, but not shocked enough to lose control of the situation completely, Sirius managed to loosen Fred's grip on his wand by twisting his arm around, and a few seconds later Fred found himself up against the wall. Both wands were now rolling across the stones.

Sirius looked into Fred's eyes, searching. Fred gave nothing away. Eventually, Sirius broke the stalemate. Annunciating each word very clearly, he said: "Tell anyone about Remus, and _I_ will kill _you_."

Fred gaped at him.

The fight seemed to be over and each released their hold on the other's robes.

Sirius grabbed his wand on his way out.


	8. Harry Potter Pleased to meet you

**Disclaimer:** Everything you recognise belongs to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing and I am making no profit.

**Setting: **This story starts a couple of weeks after the end of GoF, but after that goes AU.

**Chapter 8: Harry Potter. Pleased to meet you.**

Peter Pettigrew trotted quickly down the hall. Late again! And where was James anyway? Peter depended on James to remind him of the time. He had a habit of losing his watches and, after years of watching Peter fail to on time for pretty much anything, James had made it his personal crusade to make sure he was on time for things. Today, though, James had run off somewhere with Remus and, without the aid of his more punctual friend, Peter had spent too long dozing by the commonroom fireplace.

He silently cursed his friend for being unreliable. It was just bad form to allow someone to depend on you that way if you weren't always going to be there. Wasn't it?

He skidded around a corner, almost falling as he did, then froze as the corridor unexpectedly sank into darkness. All the lamps had simultaneously shuttered out and, as Peter tried to make eyes adjust, a chill came into the air. His heart began to pound as he tried to stop images of dementors and death eaters from clamoring in his mind. Surely it was just a problem with the lamps. And, of course, it would be colder if they all went out. There was no sunlight in this part of the castle and the lamps lining the walls provided warmth as well as light.

"Hello?" he called meekly. "Sirius?" Part of him was beginning to think that this was a prank. He would turn around and see Sirius and James, or even Snape or Nott or someone, standing behind him, pointing and laughing about how they'd scared him. That was the more logical explanation, wasn't it? More logical than dementors at Hogwarts.

Thinking of Snape and Nott, Peter briefly considered turning into a rat and running for it - the Slytherins were, in some ways, just as frightening as any dark creature could ever hope to be - but decided against the notion at the thought of what James or Sirius might do to him if he were caught, not to mention the brief Azkaban sentence he would have to serve for being an unregistered animagus.

A distant cry and the sound of approaching wind came to his ears and he spun around on his feet, trying to figure out where it was coming from. "Sirius?" he called again, a little desperately. The cry was growing louder and now he could feel gusts of air buffeting his body. He turned and began to run, hoping he would not smack into a wall in the darkness. He had no sense of direction. His hair was being swept forward over his face and his robes blowing around him. "James?!" he called, terrified now. "Anyo- oof!" The wind had suddenly grown so strong it had knocked him down. The distant cry had become a close scream, but was cut off abruptly with the thud of a body hitting stone. Someone groaned.

The wind died, the air warmed and the lamps flickered back to life.

Peter got slowly to his feet, checking himself over for injuries before turning to find a battered figure in jeans and T-Shirt, struggling to get himself up from the ground. Peter's mouth formed an O of surprise as he realised it was James. He dashed to his fallen friend's side to help him up.

"James! James, what happened?" He grabbed at James's arm and steadied him as he rose on wobbly legs, then gasped as their eyes met. "James?" he said stupidly, confused, though clearly he'd been mistaken; this was _not _James, though the resemblance was remarkable. The boy who stared back at Peter now did so from eye level - making him considerably shorter than James - with cold, green eyes that looked oddly out of place among the more familiar features of his face. James's eyes were hazel.

The boy turned away from Peter and took in the details of the hall. "I'mm aht 'ogwarts?" he slurred, still unsteady on his feet and leaning heavily on Peter's shoulder.

"Um. Yeah, you are," said Peter, feeling out of his depth. "Are you injured? Do you want me get a teacher? I'm going to transfiguration. I can get McGonnagal. She can, um ..." He trailed off again as the boy who was not James pushed away from him slightly and regarded him blurrily from a distance of a few feet.

"Wormtail?" he asked at last.

Peter jerked in surprise at the sound of the nickname coming from this stranger. "Er, yeah," he said, "And, you'd be … ?"

But the boy didn't answer. Instead, he staggered back a few paces, falling into a perfect defensive stance as he did so. He had produced a wand from somewhere and was now pointing it at Peter. Peter scrabbled back, squeaking in fright. He reached for his own wand only to find it was no longer in his pocket. The boy had stolen his wand!

The boy's eyes darted around the corridor, his wand hand shaking. He looked decidedly unstable and Peter squeezed his eyes shut, certain he was about to be hexed. When nothing happened he risked peeking out. The boy still had the wand pointed at Peter's heart, but was holding back from casting any spells. It was as though he thought Peter was some dangerous creature that needed to be held at bay.

"Look," said Peter holding up his hands, trying not to look dangerous, "Look, I want my wand back." The boy either didn't hear or didn't care. Rather than handing the wand back, he began backing down the hall, keeping it pointed at Peter until reaching an intersection and disappearing around the corner. The sound of his running feet echoed behind him.

Left alone in the hall, Peter continued to stare for a moment, then looked around as though searching for some kind of witness to confirm what had just happened. Finding no one, he turned on his heal and rushed on to transfiguration. He needed to find a teacher.

A minute later he was dashing into the transfiguration classroom. A few people glanced up, including McGonnagal. "Mr. Pettigrew, if you insist on arriving late, at least have the dignity to arrive without disturbing the rest of the class," she said shortly. "Have a seat."

She returned to her blackboard. Peter, however, didn't move. "Professor!" he burst out. "Professor, a boy appeared in the hall and took my wand!"

The class began to titter with amusement. McGonnagal frowned at them. "Quiet!" she commanded. They quieted. "What did he look like?" she asked Peter suspiciously, clearly not in the mood for this to be a joke. "Was he a student?"

"He wasn't wearing school robes Professor, he was wearing muggle clothes, and he, um, he …" McGonnagal raised an eyebrow. "He looked like James, Professor!"

A few people laughed. "Alright, Potter," someone jeered good-naturedly from the Ravenclaw table, "Give him his wand back!" James didn't laugh. His face was set in an expression of curiosity. Beside him, Fred looked as though he was about to jump from his chair.

McGonnagal was eying Peter with irritation, obviously trying to decide whether or not to take him seriously. She sighed. "Class," she said, "I'm going to the headmaster to inform him of the situation. I expect all of you to read page two hundred and twelve of your text while I'm gone. Pettigrew, you come with me, I want you to tell the headmaster what happened." She clamped a hand down on Peter's shoulder and ushered him from the room.

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Fred managed to hold back for about ten seconds before hurtling out the door after the pair, and could hear Sirius, James and Remus close behind. Lily 's cry - "James! Hey, what are you lot … ?" - just reached his ears as he got out into the hall.

Wanting to reach Dumbledore's office without crossing paths with McGonnagal, he chose to take a little known shortcut through a utilities closet. Pushing his way through mops and buckets, he could hear the others still behind him, Sirius cursing as he tripped over a dustpan.

They came out of the passageway into the boy's bathroom on the fourth floor, Fred about six paces ahead of the rest. Two more sets of staircases and he'd be at Dumbledore's office. He knew that was where Harry would go. It was where he himself had gone after landing painfully in the Defense against the Dark Arts classroom a few days earlier.

He rounded the last corner and stopped dead. He'd found him, just as he'd thought he would, standing by the gargoyle, looking decidedly pale and windswept, hair even more messy than usual. He caught sight of Fred and gave him a shaky look of relief that seemed to express everything Fred himself was feeling at that moment. The weight of guilt that had plagued him for days lifted mercifully from his shoulders.

"Fred!" Harry shouted happily, "I thought you were lost on the wa … " he stopped dead, the smile falling from his face as Sirius appeared in the hall, followed almost instantly James and Remus, the latter quite out of breath.

Everyone froze, all bar Fred trying to figure out exactly what it was they were seeing. Harry, who had already been swaying on his feet, looked as though he might drop into a faint at any moment.

It was James who moved first. He stepped out toward Harry, right hand extended. "James Potter," he said with a half smile.

"Harry," said Harry, taking the offered hand and staring at James as though star struck. Fred had a horrible feeling that he was about to blurt out something damaging, such as: 'but you're dead!'

"Who is that?" whispered Remus.

"Harry Potter," Fred murmured, "He's James's son."


	9. In the dormitory

**Disclaimer:** Everything you recognise belongs to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing and I am making no profit.

**Setting: **This story starts a couple of weeks after the end of GoF, but after that goes AU.

**Chapter 9: In the Dormitory**

"I don't think he likes me," Peter moaned. James grimaced, partly because he felt responsible for Peter's woes by association, but mostly because he wished his friend would just shut up.

"Don't be stupid, Wormtail," said Sirius irritably, probably sensing James's mood. "Why shouldn't he like you? He's James's son for Merlin's sake. It's _Fred_ with the problem. Check this out." He gestured at his purpling left cheek for what was possibly the tenth time that night. "Prongs! Did you see?"

"I saw," said James quietly. He was at the dormitory window with his elbows resting on his knees, watching the moonlight play off the flapping wings of the golden snitch gripped in his hand. He could feel Sirius's critical gaze lingering on him.

"They're still in Dumbledore's office," said Remus, poring over the Marauder's Map. "Harry _James_ Potter." His lip twitched with mild amusement. "Very original."

"Wonder who the mother is," Sirius mused slyly. James tore his attention from the snitch long enough to give Sirius a narrow look. Sirius raised his brows in mock innocence; he never seemed to tire of needling James about his obsession with Lily Evans.

"Lily?" Peter wondered, oblivious to the undercurrents.

Sirius nodded thoughtfully, pretending to mull the idea over. "Maybe. It was a bit hard to tell though. I mean, we didn't really have time to get a good enough look at him," he smirked knowingly at James who found himself resisting the temptation to strangle his friend. He knew what Sirius was doing of course, trying to draw him out by joking about his fears - what if Lily _wasn't_ the mother? - but right now he really wasn't in the mood for it. "What do you think Peter?" Sirius went on. "You were with him the longest."

Peter cocked his head to the side. "Well, he looked a lot like James."

James groaned and Remus let out a quiet chuckle. "No kidding," said Sirius, deadpan.

"Okay," said Remus. "They're outside the office … coming down the spirals. McGonnagal's with them. No, wait, she's for the staff room. It's just Harry _James_ Potter" - he smirked at James - "and Frederick Weasley coming this way through the second floor passage with the troll paintings." He looked up from the map. "They're coming this way," he repeated significantly.

Everyone turned to look at James who suddenly felt that he should do something to make himself more presentable. He stood abruptly, his first instinct to fetch a better shirt from his trunk. Realising that was stupid; he stopped before he reached it. He then found himself uncertain of which direction he wanted to be walking in and ended up turning himself around completely before settling for standing awkwardly in the centre of the room. His hand came unbidden to his hair, making sure it was standing up at the back.

"He's your son, he loves you," said Sirius, giving James his best '_What are you doing, you fool?' _look.

"He's a teenager. He hates me," James countered.

"They're with the Pink Lady," said Remus. "They're in the commonroom … They're coming up the stairs … They're outside the third year dormitory … They're outside our door …"

Everyone looked to the door. Nothing happened. Remus looked back at the map. "_Still_ outside the door …"

They waited. Remus looked around at his friends. "Still by the door, probably having a good long chat before coming in here and breaking the inordinate amount of tension …"

At this, everyone glanced at him and laughed nervously, but the laughter was quickly curtailed as Fred stepped into the room, alone, closing the door behind him. He seemed surprised for a moment to find them all staring at him, but nodded to himself with an ironic smile as he spied the map in Remus's lap.

"Harry not coming in?" asked Sirius.

Fred gave him one of his patented _you must die_ looks before replying. "Yeah. I just need to, ah, get a few things straight first."

…………………………………………………………………………..

Five minutes later they had the full story, or as much of the full story as Fred would tell them. The narrative was so full of holes it might have been swiss cheese.

James found himself wanting to shake Fred for hiding the fact that James's own _son_ had been involved in the time traveling accident. Knowing that Fred had sat in classes with him, joked with him and shared a dormitory with him, all the time aware that Harry might be lost in the Dark Ages, made James feel duped and betrayed. He understood why Fred had done it of course; he was following Dumbledore's instructions, but somehow that didn't make it any less appalling. James swallowed his bitter remarks with effort.

"So, he'll be staying in here with us?" asked Remus, not looking entirely comfortable with the idea.

"Yeah," said Fred with a grimace. "He insisted, and Dumbledore said it was alright."

_Fred's afraid_, James realised. _Afraid Harry will change the past._

"Can we bring him in now?" asked Sirius eagerly.

"Yeah," said Fred, resigned. "I'll be right back."

James's hand went up to his hair again as Fred walked out.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

"You talked to them?" asked Harry. He felt as though he'd been waiting forever.

"Yeah," said Fred, obviously unhappy about how much he had just shared with the Marauders. Harry was sympathetic, but at that moment, Fred's fears really weren't his concern. Dumbledore had said the timelines could cope with small changes and Harry knew he could be careful. He wasn't going to let this opportunity to spend time with his father pass him by, and tomorrow he would find his mother and talk to her too.

"And?" he pressed. "How'd they take it? Can I go in?"

Fred sighed. "I think James … your Dad … I think he's a bit nervous. Lupin's hard to read - you know what he's like - he hasn't changed a lot since Hogwarts. Peter; he's just nervous generally. And Black …" he paused significantly, "he seems keen to meet you."

Harry nodded. The time had come to tell Fred about Sirius being innocent. Up until now there hadn't been an opportunity - with Dumbledore's strongly worded warnings about serious alterations to the timelines, Harry hadn't even wanted to discuss it in front of the portraits during the walk to the common room - but now, he and Fred were alone.

"Oh. One other thing you ought to know," said Fred, before Harry had framed what he needed to say into words. "The Marauders - as in the people who wrote the map?" The corners of Harry's mouth went up as he nodded. "That's _them_." Fred hiked his thumb at the dormitory door. "Your Dad, Lupin … Black … _They're_ the Marauders." He spoke as though he expected Harry to be very impressed with this information.

Harry grinned. "Yeah," he said, enjoying taking the wind out of Fred's sails. "I knew that. But there's something you need to know … "

"You knew?" Fred interrupted incredulously. "Why didn't you ever say anything? And how did you find out?"

"Lupin told me," said Harry. "But Fred, you need to listen … "

"Figures," said Fred. "Alright. I'm just going to say this one more time then I'll shut up about it. You _don't_ have to do this."

"I do," said Harry very seriously. "I don't expect you to understand, but I have to know them if I can. I'll be careful, I promise, but Fred … "

"Alright," said Fred bracingly. "Here we go then." With that he led the way back into the dormitory.

"Wait!" said Harry, following quickly. "I have to tell you some … " he stopped in his tracks. They'd entered the dormitory and now the Marauders - arrayed about the room - were all staring at him. Harry suddenly felt very self-conscious about his hair.

In the heavy silence that now coated the situation, Harry's eyes sought his father who was standing by the window. He was a couple of inches taller than Harry and if it weren't for the hazel eyes, lack of a scar, and the fact that James quite obviously had to shave, Harry might have been looking into a mirror. James was watching Harry carefully, smiling nervously as their eyes met.

And there was Sirius, giving Harry a friendly grin, his long, lanky form leaning casually on a bedpost. He was almost unrecognizable with his short hair, healthy face and bright eyes, but there was something about the way he held himself that was unmistakable. Everything about him screamed that he was too cool for school.

Lupin was cross-legged on the floor, looking back up at Harry with a neutral expression. He looked younger than Harry had been expecting, and was, as always, very pale.

And there was Peter, small and shifty, opening and closing his mouth as though he wanted to say something.

"Out with it then Wormtail," said Sirius, also, now, watching Peter.

"Can I have my wand back?" Peter asked abruptly. Everyone but Harry let out a laugh, clearly feeling that Peter had broken the tension. Harry only gave Peter what he hoped was a blank stare. The wand was in his pocket but he knew here was no way he was going to give it back.

"Have you got it?" asked James in a friendly way.

"No," Harry lied coldly, hating that this was the way he was speaking to his father, but feeling powerless to respond any differently to the question. "I don't. I dropped it."

James's smile faltered. "We'll have to go look for it tomorrow then," he said. Harry gave him a tight smile.

"So," said Sirius, a huge grin on his face. "We want to know all about you of course, Harry. I know we're not supposed to ask the big questions," he gave Remus a quick look, "but you _must_ tell us this: do you, or do you not, play quidditch?"

"Yeah," Harry grinned, grateful to Sirius for changing the topic. "I love quidditch."

Fred punched Harry lightly in the shoulder. "Best flyer I've ever seen," he said enthusiastically. "He was on the house team, first year at Hogwarts."

James beamed and Harry's gratitude extended out to Fred.

"Hear that?" Sirius enquired of the room. "He doesn't just _look_ like James, he _is_ James." He smirked at Harry. "We should call you Prongs Junior."

James threw Sirius a dirty look and glanced nervously at Harry, obviously afraid Harry would take badly to being compared to him this way.

"Sirius, no one wants to be called _that_," said Remus tactfully.

"I don't mind," said Harry quickly. In truth, he wasn't thrilled about the name, but the look of relief on James's face was well worth the slight indignity.

"What position do you play?" James asked.

"Seeker," said Harry, wishing he had more than a one-word answer. James nodded in a way that was both pleased and awkward. The conversation seemed to have ended there. Harry felt the eyes of the others on them; perhaps waiting to see what father and son would do next.

"You know what?" said Fred presently, breaking through the uncomfortable silence. "Harry and I were in Dumbledore's office right through dinner."

"Oh, really?" said James quickly. He turned to his friends. "You reckon you lot could go get some food? Cloak's under the pillow." Harry saw him smile gratefully at Fred.

"Sure," said Remus, quick on the uptake. He jumped up from the floor and grabbed the invisibility cloak from James's bed. Sirius looked like he might argue but Remus snatched him up on the way out and proceeded to herd him from the room. Peter trailed after his friends, giving Harry a dark look; no doubt still suspicious that Harry was hiding his wand. Fred waited for a nod from Harry before following. The door closed quietly behind them and Harry was finally left alone with his father.

James approached slowly, tentatively reaching out to place his hands on Harry's shoulders. "I think I can guess who your mother is," he said softly, looking directly into Harry's eyes.

"Right," said Harry heavily, averting his gaze and moving away as the reality of the situation came into focus for him. The topic of James and Lily was to be avoided. The last thing Harry wanted to do was change anything between his parents. He sat himself down on what he assumed was Remus's bed - it was certainly too neat to be Fred's - and gave James an apologetic smile, his mind casting desperately about for a safe topic of conversation but finding none.

"So, you and Fred, you're good friends?" James ventured, coming to sit beside him.

"Yeah, but I'm better friends with his brother," said Harry; grateful James had decided not to press the issue of his parentage.

"Oh, his twin?"

Harry smiled, reflecting sadly that Fred had seemed a lot less upbeat without George. "No," he said. "They have a younger brother; Ron. He's my Sirius."

James laughed in appreciation and Harry found himself grinning like an idiot.

The laughter died away softly as James gave Harry an almost reverent look. "This is so strange," he said. His gaze came to rest on Harry's scar and Harry shifted uncomfortably. He never liked it when people stared at the scar, but this was something else. Remembering Dumbledore's warnings he bit back the urge to tell James all he knew of that fateful night, and how it might be avoided. "I suppose you fell on a doorknob?" James asked wryly, seeming to sense Harry's turmoil.

"Something like that," Harry managed.

James nodded, accepting the vague answer. Harry almost wished he would question him further.

"So what _can _we talk about?" James asked. The question was close to being rhetorical. "There must be _something_ that won't drastically change things, right?" He turned to Harry hopefully, clearly wanting him to have to have the answer.

"My patronus is a stag." Harry offered. That wouldn't change anything, would it?

James's face lit up. It was as though Harry had given him an all-season pass to the Quidditch World Series. "That's advanced magic for a fourth year," he said.

"Yeah," said Harry, blushing a bit. "I guess it is."

"And I suppose you know I'm an animagus then," said James carefully, not looking at all displeased at the thought. Harry gave him a secretive smile and nodded. "Does Fred?" asked James seriously.

"Oh, no." said Harry. "Just me … and Ron … a-and another friend. Oh, and Dumbledore … and a few … other… people."

"Merlin!" cried James, whose eyes had widened rather comically as this information was divulged. "What did we do, post a bulletin in The Prophet? And what about Remus? Is he … I mean …" he cut himself off, staring at Harry in dismay. "Alright," he said tightly. "Too many questions … timelines … future in jeopardy …" He threw his head back in frustration and hit a fist against the nearest bedpost. "Urgh!"

"We'll have to be so careful," said Harry helplessly. "I _want_ to tell you everything, but ... "

James shook his head. "Remus was right," he said sadly. "It's dangerous for you to be here."

Harry tried hard not to regret his decision at these ominous words.

Awkwardness ensued.


	10. Fight and flight

**Disclaimer:** Everything you recognise belongs to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing and I am making no profit.

**Setting: **This story starts a couple of weeks after the end of GoF, but after that goes AU.

………………………………………………………………………………..

**Chapter 10: Fight and Flight**

It was Saturday morning and the commonroom was full of the usual suspects. Some did homework, some chatted, and some sat observing their best friend's son as he sat across the room thumbing through their photo albums.

When Harry had approached Sirius earlier that morning to ask if he had any photos of the Marauders, Sirius had happily handed him all the albums he could find in the dormitory, including those belonging to James, Remus and Peter. Sirius had wanted to go through them together, thinking they'd laugh about all the stupid things James had ever done, but Harry had wanted to view them alone. _Maybe he'll want to look at them with James or Lily when they get back _Sirius thought.

First thing that morning James had whisked Lily away to wherever it was he took her when he wanted 'romantic time'. It made Sirius want to gag. James must be the only seventeen year old alive to be turned on by the idea of settling down with a kid. Harry had woken after they'd gone and Lily had yet to meet him.

"Amazing, isn't it," said Remus. They were sitting together in the good chairs by the fireplace. "How'd'you reckon he got that scar?"

"Dunno," Sirius replied. "There's probably a good story behind it though. Why don't we _ask_ him?" Remus scowled and Sirius laughed. "You are so easy."

Remus shook his head, presumably at Sirius's idiocy, and they went back to watching Harry who was now wearing the strangest look; as though he'd swallowed something bitter and now wanted to throw up. His eyes were fixed on a particular photograph and his hands were gripping the pages of the album a little too hard.

"We should see what's wrong," said Sirius, concerned. But before he'd taken two steps toward Harry he found himself distracted by Peter, who at that moment came stumbling through the portrait hole, dropping his books and potions equipment across the commonroom floor. There was general clapping and cheering from the Gryffindors as Peter blushed bright red and moved to collect his things. Sirius snorted at his friend's clumsiness and moved to help, but froze in his tracks when he caught sight of Harry.

The expressions warring on Harry's face as he watched Peter's progress - cool detachment, perverse satisfaction and something a little more frightening - held Sirius transfixed. Peter was looking around to see where his abacus had landed and spotted it by Harry's feet. He opened his mouth, presumably to ask Harry to pass it up to him, but stopped before the words came out. Something about Harry was warning him not to speak.

Sirius watched the scene unfold with the same kind of fascinated horror he sometimes felt when witnessing creatures from the Forbidden Forrest destroy one another. Peter's eyes were fixed firmly on Harry's as he slowly reached down to retrieve the abacus, like a rabbit fetching a carrot from under the nose of a potentially vicious wolf. With his attention on Harry's face though, Peter made the unfortunate mistake of brushing his hand against Harry's ankle. The immediate reaction was severe. Harry scrambled away, standing as he did, and pulled his wand on the smaller boy. The photo album from his lap fell awkwardly to the floor, the pages bending at all the wrong angles.

Peter squealed, dropped his books all over again, and threw his arms up in front of his face as though that would protect him from an unfriendly spell. With six years experience defending Peter from the bullies of Hogwarts, Sirius found himself responding to his friend's plight by reflex and within seconds both he and Remus were at Peter's side, wands out.

The commonroom fell silent as everyone turned to watch the impending fight and it occurred to Sirius that James would be horrified to see this: his three best friends ganging up on his son. A feeling of guilt began to creep up on him. Then he sensed someone approaching from behind him and all guilt was forgotten. "Stop right there, Fred!" he said.

"Lower your wand," said Fred, no more than three feet away.

Sirius didn't move. Harry was still staring at Peter as though he were something poisonous, and although Sirius knew he would never actually cast a spell on his best friend's son, he'd be damned if he'd let Harry threaten Peter. Harry would have to back down first.

"Lower it!" Fred shouted.

Harry started at the sound of Fred's voice and seemed to become aware of his surroundings again. His feral hatred melted away as he glanced around at all the people watching. He kept the wand trained on Peter, but the intent to use it seemed to have gone. He now appeared faintly embarrassed.

Remus lowered his wand, clearly believing the danger to be over, but Sirius remained uncertain.

"Lower it!" Fred commanded again, more urgently now.

Sirius barely heard him. He was too focused on Harry who was now staring back at him with the kind of look a faithful dog might wear if his master had just kicked him. He was strongly reminded of the way Remus had looked at him after discovering just who had betrayed his secret to Snape.

"Hey!" cried Peter unexpectedly. "That's mine!" He pointed an accusatory finger at Harry.

"What?" asked Sirius.

"He stole my wand!" said Peter indignantly.

"He did too," said Remus, looking closely.

"PUT DOWN YOUR WAND!!" roared Fred, making everyone jump.

Sirius saw Harry's eyes widen with some sudden fear. "Fred, no!" he cried. "It's not what you think!"

"WHAT?!" Fred demanded. "Look, Harry, I don't know what he said to you, but I am not going to just stand here and let HIM … "

"You don't understand!" cried Harry. "You don't …" His eyes moved helplessly from Fred to Sirius and back again. Then he seemed to come to a conclusion. He nodded to himself once, stowed Peter's wand away in his pocket, then bolted out the portrait hole.

"Hey!" cried Peter. "Bring that back!"

He made to follow but Remus stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "Let him go," he said, and Sirius saw that his face was pale. He was just as shaken by all this as Sirius was. "Let him calm down," he said. He turned to Fred. "You can lower that now." Fred reluctantly lowered his wand and Sirius noticed for the first time that he had huge dark circles under his eyes. Had he even slept since he'd arrived?

"C'mon," said Remus, and led the other three up to the dormitory. They needed to get away from the crowd of whispering Gryffindors so they could talk. Fred and Sirius stared daggers at each other as they went.


	11. Love and other catastrophies

Disclaimer: They're not mine and they never will be :-(  
  
Three cheers for Ms Rowling!!!  
  
...................................................................  
  
James sank onto the bed smiling, holding a hand out to Lily. Lily looked at him suspiciously.  
  
"I thought you wanted to talk to me about something Potter, but clearly that was just a sorry excuse to get me in here when I should be studying for my NEWTS."  
  
'Here' was the room of requirement. Something James had not told the other marauders about in detail. On the Marauder's Map they had dubbed it 'The Butterbeer Room' because they had once gone in there to find it full of shelves lined with butterbeer. As Sirius had been complaining loudly about how thirsty he was just before entering the room, the marauders had found this highly amusing.  
  
James had since discovered the room's potential to become anything he wanted it to be, but to the other marauders it would always be just 'The Butterbeer Room'.   
  
James had started to use it as a private bedroom a few months ago when Sirius and Peter had decided it would be funny to burst in on James and Lily whenever they were making out, embarrassing the hell out of the both of them.  
  
It had been a good move on his part. Lily would have never let him get as far as he had managed to get with her if it had not been for the added privacy the room allowed them.  
  
James had brought her into the room intending to talk about Harry. He had not been sure what exactly he was going to say to her, but he had known that he needed to be in her presence. Needed to share with her the knowledge that they would be together for a long time. That this was it. He belonged to her and was happy to be owned. He had been sure of that the moment he had seen Lily and Harry standing next to each other.   
  
His heart had almost exploded.  
  
While trying and failing to sleep the night before, what with Peter snoring, Fred tossing and turning loudly, and Harry talking unintelligibly through his dreams, James had tried to calculate how old he would be when Harry was born. He was rather surprised when he realized that he would be a teenaged father. Nineteen was the number he had arrived at, based on Harry's age and what little information Fred had given them when he had first arrived.  
  
James wished he could tell Lily all about the previous night. Every detail. But with all Remus's warnings he had finally decided to keep her in the dark. He least of all wanted to do anything that might put a question mark over his son's existence.   
  
So now that he had Lily to himself, he decided that he just wanted to be lying next to her, chatting about inane things.  
  
They had reached the point in their relationship where they were thinking more long term.   
  
James knew that Lily had been reluctant to start seeing him in the first place because she didn't trust his commitment. She had not wanted to become another notch on the garter belt so to speak. Truth to tell there were a few.  
  
But three years of continuous pick up lines and a few more serious attempts to ask her out on dates had finally worn her down, and now James had the girlfriend he had always wanted. The girl who had always made him behave like a fool, and who for most of their Hogwarts career had despised him with a passion.  
  
Passion had been the key word though.  
  
After two dates, which James suspected Lily had only agreed to as a means to prove that he wasn't serious about her, they had shared a first kiss. James would always remember that kiss. Not only was it the most impassioned kiss he had experienced to date, it was also the moment he had realized that he had actually won her over. How, he still wasn't sure.  
  
Now she was looking down at him with a little smile, hands on hips, eyes narrowed.  
  
"I just wanted to be alone with you," he replied honestly.  
  
"That's sweet,"  
  
"I know."  
  
He beckoned her closer and she complied, settling herself in his lap as he leant back against the pillows.  
  
"Are you alright?" she asked softly, burying her face in his neck. Her nose was cold against the warm skin there.  
  
"I was thinking last night," he said.  
  
She smiled, "Oh? Who would've thought?"  
  
He raised his eyebrows at the implied insult and poked her gently in the ribs. She gave him a conciliatory pat on the shoulder, "Thinking about what?"  
  
"Us."  
  
She became serious. "What about us?"  
  
"This is it isn't it," he stated.  
  
"What?" she asked warily.  
  
"This is it. This, us, it's what this whole romance thing is about. I mean, who would've thought it would be so simple?"  
  
"Simple?"  
  
"Yeah. I mean it's just a matter of trust isn't it. Trusting someone with your secrets. Your feelings. Your heart. And once you have that, you don't let it go. You hold on to it." He looked her in the eye, "I'm holding on to you."  
  
She was smiling at him mockingly.  
  
"From the mouth of the most arrogant womanizer I ever knew. I do believe you've grown up Mr. Potter."  
  
Despite the playful tone he knew she'd taken him seriously, and he wasn't offended by the slightly harsh words. She'd said much worse in the past.  
  
"I'm going to marry you one day," he said softly.  
  
"I know," she answered, surprising him. She knew? But she'd always been suspicious of his motives in the past. Now that suspicion seemed to have been swept away. Had it been something he'd said? As usual he had problems figuring this girl out. But this time he was not complaining.  
  
She leaned over and kissed him softly.  
  
They quickly lost track of time.  
  
Meanwhile James's three best friends and Fred were arrayed around the seventh year dormitory. Emotions ere running high.  
  
"We shouldn't have drawn our wands on him." Remus stated.  
  
"Of course you should have!" Peter cried, "He was going to hex me into next week! With my own wand!"  
  
"There's something strange going on here," said Sirius, "Something important, that we need to know. Something he's," he pointed savagely at Fred "holding back from us. Why would James's son attack Peter like that?"  
  
"I don't know," said Fred softly. He had been wondering the same thing himself.  
  
Sirius snorted. "Of course you know. You're just not telling because of Dumbledore."  
  
Fred glared at Sirius. "I-Don't-Know." He said slowly and clearly, as though Sirius were a three year old who might have trouble understanding.  
  
Remus looked at Fred closely. It occurred to him that Fred's good humor had slowly been deteriorating since the night he had arrived. A close examination of Fred's face spoke volumes as to why.  
  
"When was the last time you slept properly?" he asked.  
  
Fred just grimaced.  
  
"He tosses and turns at night," said Peter, "I can't get to sleep when he does it."  
  
"I've heard it too," said Remus.  
  
"It's nothing," said Fred.  
  
In truth the lack of sleep was due to three things. The first was an empty feeling in his chest that he assumed was a symptom of being away from George. Being without his twin was taking its toll.   
  
The second was the stress of sleeping in the same room as Sirius.   
  
The third was a fear for Harry's well being.   
  
Fred was on edge and Sirius's anger was making him crazy. Even now he felt as though drawing his wand on the taller boy and incapacitating him might be the most appropriate thing to do. He was sitting right there. All Fred had to do was reach into his pocket, pull out the thin wooden rod and . . . . .  
  
"What aren't you telling us?" Sirius was demanding.  
  
"Sirius . . . ."  
  
"No Remus, I want to know. First me, now Peter. What do you have against us? What have we done to you?"  
  
Fred just let out an ironic bark of laughter, sounding remarkably like Sirius after a night spent in the form of Padfoot.  
  
Remus felt his stomach turn. "You don't have to tell him Fred."  
  
"Maybe I should," said Fred darkly. "Maybe he deserves to know."  
  
Sirius stared at him. His limbs were going cold. Fred didn't look sane. Peter was trying inconspicuously to move away from him.  
  
"So tell me," said Sirius quietly, now fearing the answer.  
  
Fred's teeth were clenched. He refused to look at Sirius. It looked as though it was taking everything he had to keep himself from yelling something vehemently .  
  
The three marauders watched in a sort of horror filled silence.  
  
Whatever Fred was about to say, it would be damaging. To the timelines. To their friendships.  
  
Fred stood slowly, shaking as he did so.  
  
He could feel three sets of eyes following his movements. One suspicious. One sympathetic. One afraid.  
  
He balled his fists, then let them unfurl.  
  
Remus took a step toward him, then stopped, as Fred's gaze came up to meet his own.  
  
"I need to find Harry," Fred managed to say finally.  
  
He marched to the door and disappeared out into the common room.  
  
Sirius made to follow him, but then stopped in his tracks, thinking for a moment. He needed to find Harry too. Harry didn't hate him the way Fred did. Harry might give him answers. Sirius needed to find Harry before Fred did. Fred had a head start. Sirius would need the Marauder's Map.  
  
He turned to see that Remus had already found it, and was examining it closely.  
  
"Where is he?" asked Sirius.  
  
"Hang on," said Remus. Sirius and Peter waited impatiently as Remus scanned the map.  
  
"James and Lily are in the Butterbeer Room,"  
  
"He takes her to the Butterbeer Room?" asked Peter incredulously.  
  
"Where's Harry?!"  
  
"I'm looking for him Sirius. Alright there's Fred. He's moving fast down towards Hagrid's hut. And there's Harry! He's at the Whomping Willow! He's going down into the tunnel!"  
  
And Sirius was off.  
  
The door slammed behind him.  
  
Remus and Peter looked at each other.  
  
Remus wondered if he'd done the right thing.  
  
The timelines would be forgotten now. Sirius was too anxious about whatever it was the future held to care any more.   
  
Remus knew that Sirius would have gone looking for Harry whether or not Remus had helped him, but the guilt remained.  
  
"What do we do now?" asked Peter.  
  
Before Remus could open his mouth to answer James burst into the room, face flushed and grinning.  
  
"I'm in love!" he cried, as if this was actually news to anyone. Then he saw the looks on his friend's faces.   
  
"What?"  
  
...........................................................................  
  
Okay so this chapter was basically filler, but there were a couple of important points to it! This is the first time I've really put Lily in the picture. Harry wants to know her just as much as he wants to know James of course, so her role is an important one.  
  
Also, this is a turning point for the whole gang. It's at this point that everybody decides that they are going to disregard the timelines entirely. They're all too confused and distressed to care anymore. Everyone but James that is.  
  
Thanx to all the reviewers!!!  
  
Anifan1  
  
Timelines are altered every time Fred or Harry have interactions with anyone, so yes you're right in thinking that they are being changed. It's how much of it can be reversed that is the real issue. I'm hoping that the way I deal with it will be a nice surprise for people, so I won't go into any more detail here. Stay tuned.  
  
SlytherinRose  
  
Yeah, I thought awkwardness would be more appropriate too. I mean Harry's daunted, because let's face it, he's spent the last four years living in James's shadow, and James, well, of course he's nervous. He's seventeen. He doesn't know how to be a father to a fifteen year old! And he's under the impression that he and Harry already have some sort of relationship that he doesn't know the details of. He's scared as heck right now! Plus the limitations placed on them by the timelines issue has increased the awkwardness ten fold! He he! Grins evilly.   
  
Hosanna  
  
Thanx for the essay man! You really put a lot of thought into these!  
  
Good job on guessing the wand bit. I really like the idea of Harry having Peter's weapon. Puts the power on the other foot after what happened in the graveyard.   
  
The "faithfull dog" line got a lot of good responses. I'm really glad I decided to go with that now.  
  
"I'm am not going to just here let HIM . . . . !!" This line was intentionally left short, to show how Fred is feeling a bit all over the place.   
  
Quiet Harry appeals to me too. I very much enjoyed the angry Harry of OoTP though. JK has turned him into an angry at the world fifteen year old, very different to the ten year old we met in book one. I started to write this before reading OoTP though, so for this story I'm sticking with quiet Harry.  
  
Yeah, still not sure how I'm going to deal with the different class issue. I'll think of something.  
  
Looking forward to your next review!!!  
  
Mordred  
  
Yeah, I wanted to split the twins up because of the way they are so often portrayed as a "two headed person". JK generally portrays Fred as the more proactive of the two I think. George is the follower. :)  
  
Jenstarz  
  
Thanx man! I can just see Sirius actually being 'cool uncle Sirius' if fate hadn't twisted the marauders off in different directions. It's sort of arrogant for him to just assume that's who he'll be though. I love arrogant Sirius!  
  
Templar Otmena  
  
Hope you enjoyed the Lily/James bit here. I love them as a couple. She really puts him in his place I feel. The Remus/James and Sirius/Harry conversations are still coming. Stay tuned!  
  
NightSpear  
  
Harry hasn't really been exposed to the Fred/Sirius problem. At least not until he saw Fred drawing his wand on Sirius, but as that conflict ended with Harry running for it, he really hasn't had a chance to talk to Fred yet. Also he's been a little distracted by the Wormtail issue to notice Fred a hell of a lot. More confusion in this chapter! I like to keep things on the edge.  
  
Alexandra  
  
Thanx for a long review! The Sirius/Harry stuff is coming up! (Not in a slash way.) I've tried to keep the characters as realistic and in character as possible, so it's great to see a response to them like yours!!  
  
Bboo  
  
Fred's doing the best he can!! Leave my Fred alone!! He he. :)  
  
Alynna  
  
Haven't read Coexistence yet, but it's now on the to do list. Thanx.  
  
A.L Lorraine  
  
Who's favorites list am I on? I want to see what other stuff they have listed there.  
  
Thanx for the compliments! And yep, you will have to wait and see. He he.  
  
SerenityBliss  
  
As it's James and Sirius's final year at Hogwarts I decided that they should have calmed down a bit. They're still the lovable marauders but they don't the same thrills out of doing thing things like hanging Snape upside down so everyone can see his undies the way they used to. Especially after the Snape/Lupin incident. Snape's around, but they avoid him more than they used to. He's not really relevant here anyways. I started writing this before OoTP came out and didn't go down the explosive Harry path. In that respect this story is slightly AU.   
  
Truth Seeker  
  
Thanx! Iniga is actually one of my favorite authors so it's great to be compared. I think Iniga got the characters pretty much on the ball so it's nice that you think they are similar. Oh and I loved the confused James scene in the dorm too. Sirius would have thought James was being ridiculous. That was fun to write! I hate it when the rating ruins the story too.  
  
Robin  
  
Timelines being ignored as we speak! Thanx dude! Promises unbroken getting updated soon? Love your work, especially Julia. I think I relate to her best.  
  
Rainbow1  
  
Thank-you. Sorry not all the things I predicted happened right away. It'll take a couple more chapters. I should have another one up by Saturday though. The Harry/Sirius conversation should be coming up next if my creativity goes the way I expect it to. :)  
  
Okay everyone, all the rightfull rulers of Middle Earth, (you'll have fight amongst yourselves to see who actually gets the crown, or we'll end up with an indecisive committee!!) you're all fantastic! I love you!   
  
Longer reviews get replies. Thanks to everyone who wrote shorter reviews, I haven't forgotten you, I'm just time and space conscious.  
  
More reviews! I need more reviews! I'm becoming addicted! Need Reviews!!!!!!!  
  
Reviews!!!!!!!  
  
Okay I'm done.  
  
Cheers,  
  
Whiskey. 


	12. A peice of the puzzle in place

**Disclaimer: **Everything you recognise belongs to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing and I am making no profit

**Setting: **This story starts a couple of weeks after the end of GoF but after that goes a little AU.

…………………………………………………………………………………

**Chapter 12: A Piece of the Puzzle in Place.**

Harry hugged his knees. He was in the upstairs bedroom of the shrieking shack, leaning against dirt and blood stained pillows of the four-poster bed. Tiny spears of sunlight made their way through the boards that blocked the windows, but the room was otherwise dark.

The house was pretty much as Harry remembered it - distended with scratch marks over the walls and furniture - but there were small differences; the thick layer of dust was yet to settle itself down across the floor and a faint smell of blood penetrated the air. _Remus's blood? _ _Probably._

_Would it be full moon soon?_

Harry had a sudden desire to see James transform; to see Prongs in the flesh rather than as an apparition of white smoke originating from Harry's own wand. He wanted to see Peter transform too, and never transform back. He wanted to talk to Sirius; not young Sirius with the laughing eyes who had pulled a wand on him earlier, but Harry's Godfather; the Azkaban escape with the skeletal frame and twisted grin.

Harry remembered all too well the first time he'd come here. He remembered Sirius's hatred and rage against Peter. He thought of young Sirius jumping to Peter's defense; an act that was second nature to him in him in _this_ time.

How did future Sirius feel knowing that he had once acted as Peter's protector, and what would he have done if he'd found himself in Harry's current predicament? Could he have told James what to do in order to prevent the personal tragedies but not prolong the war? Could he have figured out a way to use this opportunity in a way Harry has yet to do? _No, probably not. _Sirius probably would've jumped in and strangled Peter, consequences be damned. Twelve years in Azkaban combined with natural recklessness made Sirius an unpredictable element.

Harry heard footsteps downstairs, crisp against the silence, and sat up, straining his ears for some further clue as to who was approaching. It would be one of three people he decided; James, Sirius or Lupin. Fred didn't know about the tunnel to the shack and Harry very much doubted that Peter would have had the courage to follow him after what had happened in the commonroom. It had almost made Harry retch to see the rat cowering before his own wand. He'd wanted more than anything to just be able to fight the boy - curse him until he couldn't get up off the ground - but seeing him cower like that; Harry had felt pity. It made things complicated.

The footsteps were now jogging up the stairs and Harry tried to relax as he waited for whomever it was to find him. It was Sirius. He entered the room squinting, using his lit wand to locate Harry on the bed.

"Oh, here you are," he said, a little too casually. Harry realised he was still wary of him after the incident with Peter.

"I'm not going to attack you," he said.

"Course not," said Sirius cheerily. "That would just be foolish; I'm bigger and stronger than you." He flicked his wand. "Lumos lit! Nox!" The torches on the walls lit up and Sirius's wand went out. Harry was glad to have the light of it out of his face. The room felt warmer.

Sirius perched himself on the edge of the bed. "So I have to ask," he said, watching Harry closely. "Why is it that you and Fred are such gits around us?"

Harry snorted, not quite believing that Sirius had just said that. _Direct and to the point_ he thought. Sirius returned his gaze without flinching.

"I'm not being a 'git'," said Harry, affronted. Then more thoughtfully, "And it's not Fred's fault. He doesn't have all the facts. Don't worry though, I'll sort it out with him."

Sirius nodded. "What _are_ the 'facts'?" he asked.

"You know I can't tell you," said Harry, trying to match Sirius's apparent calm, though this questioning was making him very uneasy.

"Alright then," said Sirius. "What's _not_ fact? What does Fred think about me that _isn't_ true. You can tell me _that_. I mean, you wouldn't be telling be about the future if it's nothing that really happened."

Harry applauded the rather manipulative logic of this, but also knew that he would not give Sirius the answer. What would Sirius do to the timelines if he discovered that most people thought he was a mad killer?

"I'll sort Fred out," he repeated instead.

Sirius looked him in the eye for a moment, then stood and began to pace. "You won't tell me, but _you_ don't hate me. You know something Fred doesn't. Something about Peter upsets _you_ but not Fred. Fred is afraid of me, but you don't seem to be … " He was counting off the facts on his fingers, jittery with pent up frustration, any façade of calm now forgotten. It was as though he thought the future was a puzzle and all he had to do was put the pieces together to find the answer. Harry felt a thrill of fear. He could see himself in Sirius - that same obsessive nature that had led Harry into a series of terrifying, life threatening situations - and he knew he had to put a stop to this.

"I'm not afraid of you," he said, before Sirius got any further. "I know you; you're …" Could he say it?

Sirius wheeled around and eyed him intently. "_What_? I'm _what_ Harry?" Harry was silent. "Oh, just tell me! _Whatever_ it is!" Sirius exploded.

"You're my Godfather."

Clearly this was the last thing Sirius had been expecting to hear, his mouth opening and closing silently as he digested the information, but Harry could tell he was rather pleased. "Oh," he said finally, overcoming his surprise. "You mean James and Lily would actually let me be your guardian if anything, God forbid, were to happen to them?"

Harry felt the pained expression cross his face before he could stop it. "I suppose so."

"Huh." Sirius seated himself again. "Well, it makes sense of course."

"Yeah," Harry nodded, feeling rather melancholy now. "You were my Dad's best friend."

Sirius hummed in agreement, but then fell silent; the pleased expression melting from his face. "Wait, what was that?"

"I-I said that, er, you and Dad, you're b-best friends," Harry stuttered out, sensing he'd made an error somewhere.

"Right," said Sirius, stretching the word out thoughtfully. "Even after all those years?"

"Er, yeah," Harry managed, a little scared now. What had Sirius deduced? "Yeah, of course; why wouldn't you be?"

"And you attacked Wormtail because?"

"I didn't attack him!" Harry protested. "I just … "

"Pulled his own wand on him," Sirius finished shrewdly.

Harry tried to take a calming breath. "Sirius, look, it was just … it was something to do with the future … " He was trying to put Sirius off, but knew he wasn't making an effective job of it. His fears were very close to the surface and that was only making Sirius even more keenly interested. "Sirius, you know I can't tell you, so just don't ask, alright? It's hard enough without you … "

"Wanting the truth?" Sirius asked impatiently. Harry fell silent, willing Sirius to understand.

Sirius stood and paced across the room, running his hands through his hair in agitation, but when he turned to face Harry again his face was deadly calm. _He knows something_ thought Harry, _but what? _What had Sirius figured out? What had Harry given away? Sirius was smarter than Harry was. He'd done something; tricked him somehow.

"Tell me," said Sirius dispassionately. "What position does James play on the quidditch team?"

"Why?" asked Harry nervously. "You don't need me to tell you that."

"Humour me."

"Chaser," said Harry. "He played chaser."

"Correct." Sirius crossed his arms over his chest and swallowed as though trying to prepare himself for something. "Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"What's James's birthday?"

It took a moment for the significance of this question to sink in. Once it did, Harry felt the blood draining from his face. He could see the growing horror in Sirius's eyes.

"Sirius … "

But Sirius had disappeared, and the huge black dog that had taken his place was fleeing down the rickety old staircase, no more than a blur of black fur.

"Sirius!" Harry cried. "Wait!"

His voice echoed around the shack.


	13. Why?

**Disclaimer: **Everything you recognise belongs to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing, and am making no profit

**Setting: **This story starts a couple of weeks after the end of GoF, but after that goes a little AU.

…………………………………………………………………………………

**Chapter 13: Why?**

"Let me get this straight," said James. "I leave you alone with my son for, what?" He looked at his watch. "An hour and a half?" Remus nodded, wincing. "And he's already been in a fight, stolen a wand and run off."

"Well … yes," said Remus guiltily. "That does about sum it up. Sirius went after him though."

"You reckon Sirius'll get my wand back?" Peter groused.

"I don't know Wormtail," said Remus tiredly, marveling at the one track nature of Peter's mind. "Why don't you go to McGonagall? Say you lost your wand. Don't say Harry has it - we don't need to get the teachers involved - just get her to give you a replacement so you can do your homework."

For a moment it looked as though Peter might argue, but then he took in James's state of woe and simply offered his friend sympathetic smile on his way out.

"Thanks," said James, once he'd gone.

Remus gave him a strained smile. "He's scared about his future. I mean, it was bad enough with Sirius and Fred, but now - "

"It's different," James agreed. "This isn't some stranger, it's my own flesh and blood." His eyes flicked to the window facing the Shrieking Shack and a muscle twitched in his jaw. Remus recognised the symptom. James needed to _do_ something. Now. "I should go after them," he said. "Sirius might pick a fight. Something happened between him and Fred, some sort of fight -"

Remus tried to sound soothing. "I don't think Sirius will pick a fight with Harry."

"But if Harry attacked Peter - "

"Sirius wants answers," Remus said firmly. "He won't want to rub Harry the wrong way again. Besides, you should have seen the look on Harry's face when Sirius had a wand on him. I think they might be close in the future, and I think Sirius picked up on that too. He'll use it to his advantage. Maybe you should just let them talk."

James sighed in reluctant acceptance, and slumped down on the edge of his bed. "Why do you think Harry reacted to Peter that way?" he asked forlornly.

"I don't know," said Remus. It made even less sense than Fred's apparent hatred of Sirius. "What was he like?" he asked, meaning Harry. " We were down in the kitchen for ages last night. What did you talk about?"

James thought for a while before answering. "Quiet," he said. "A bit shy really - I mean, I suppose he has to be, there's so much he's not allowed to say - but he was a lot more quiet than Fred's been."

Remus snorted. "Wouldn't be hard."

"His patronus is a stag," said James, a touch of smug pride lighting his features.

Remus was impressed. "A patronus," he said, deliberately needling James by not reacting to the 'stag' part. "At his age! Who do you think taught him?"

"Lily," said James confidently. "She's good with charms."

"True," said Remus, choosing not to mention that it had yet to be confirmed that Lily was actually Harry's mother. Anyone who'd seen Harry's eyes could draw their own conclusions of course, and clearly James had.

"He was nervous," James continued. "Tense. Like Lily on our first date, only less suspicious of everything I did. Oh, and he knows about the whole werewolf-animagus thing by the way." He said the last in a rush, as though that might make it easier for Remus to take.

Remus nodded calmly. It was no surprise to him. "I thought he might. How else would he know about the shack?"

"Yeah," said James, shifting uncomfortably. "Yeah … Remus, look, I should tell you … Fred knows too. About you."

This _was_ a surprise. There was short but deafening silence. "I don't think he thinks any less of you for it," James qualified, quickly filling it. "He mentioned it casually, you know. Sirius was afraid he might say something to the wrong person, but … he said he'd sort it out."

"Sort it out?!" Remus sputtered, finding his tongue at last. "Gee, I wonder what that little fight they had was about?"

"Remus - "

Remus held his hands up in mock surrender, effectively silencing his friend. "No," he said, his voice pitched higher than usual. "You know what? It's all right. I don't think Fred will tell anyone. He's been perfectly civil to _me_. However, I _would_ like to know why you didn't feel the need to say something to me about this _earlier_."

"I didn't want - "

"To hurt my feelings?" Remus bit out, more irate every time James opened his mouth. "Good call."

"I should have told you earlier, I just - "

"You should have told me _before_ you told Sirius."

"I'm sorry."

The apology was sincere - James actually appeared contrite - but Remus knew that if James could do it all over again, he would do it the same way. James and Sirius would always trust each other first, and Remus would always be kept in the dark if they thought the truth might hurt him. Despite this, Remus knew he wouldn't stay angry with either of them long. He never did. _I may as well get over it now_, he told himself_. There are other things to be concerned with_. He gave James one last pointed look, then shook his head, trying to clear it of the whole issue. He focused his attention back on the map, still in his hand. "He's coming back to the castle."

"Who?" asked James eagerly. "Harry?"

"No. Fred."

James moved quickly from his bed to Remus's in order to better inspect the map. "Where was he? I would've thought he'd be at the shack if that's where Harry went."

"He doesn't know about the shack," Remus explained. "He went looking for Harry at Hagrid's."

"Hagrid's? Why?"

"I'm not sure."

Sirius's name appeared at the border of the map.

"James - "

"I see him."

He was moving down the passage from the Shrieking Shack to the Whomping Willow, a little too fast for human legs. "He must have transformed," said Remus. "Harry isn't with him - Oh, the stupid git!"

Sirius had climbed from the tunnel at the base of the Whomping Willow and was now moving toward the Forbidden Forest. Remus knew first hand that the Forbidden Forest, with its cornucopia of dangerous magical creatures, was dangerous enough when traveling in groups. _Sirius damn well knows it too. Under no circumstances should he be going in there alone._

"There's Harry," said James, apparently not as concerned for Sirius's welfare as Remus was. Remus tore his attention away from his friend to see that Harry was indeed following in Sirius's footsteps. He was moving at a slower pace than Sirius, but already he was close to the Whomping Willow. "He'll bump into Fred on the way back," said James, judging Harry and Freds' movements the same way he judged the velocity of quaffels and quidditch players on the pitch. Remus didn't doubt he was right. He laid the map down and ran his tongue thoughtfully around his teeth.

"What do you think happened?" he asked carefully.

"I don't know," said James, standing and grabbing his cloak. "But Sirius must have pretty upset to have gone into the forest like that. The last time he did that was after - "

"Yeah, I remember," Remus interrupted, not wanting James to invoke further memories of that day. He'd been furious at Sirius after "Snape incident" and had told him, in no uncertain terms, that he would never speak to him again. Sirius had been devastated. "You're going then?"

James held his hand out for the map. "You're not coming?"

Remus shook his head as he handed it over. "I don't know what's going on James, but I think the last thing Harry needs right now is to be crowded. Do you remember what Fred said last night? How he warned us - "

"That Harry's been through _'serious stuff'_," said James bitterly, revealing his frustration with the lack of details on this point. "You don't think he's been really traumatized do you?" he asked, clearly pained.

Remus hid his suspicions behind a false calm. "I don't know, but there's something making them act the way they do. _Both_ of them. Fred covers it most of the time, but there's something … " he trailed off, not sure how much conjecture was appropriate.

"Yeah," said James dully. "I know." He hurried out the door.

"Good luck," said Remus softly.


	14. Tears

**Disclaimer: **Everything you recognise belongs to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing, and am making no profit

**Setting: **This story starts a couple of weeks after the end of GoF, but after that goes a little AU.

…………………………………………………………………………………

**Chapter 14: Tears**

Remus stumbled. "Damn it!" His hand had bashed across an inconvenient branch. Blood dripped to the forest floor.

It had occurred to him, on the way from the castle, that it would have made far more sense for James to be searching the Forbidden Forest right now, as he could become 'Prongs' and navigate this green death trap with far more agility than Remus could ever hope to achieve in human form. Also, as Remus was generally in wolf form when in the forest, his memories of landmarks were vague at best while James had superior human recall of the geography. Remus found himself irrationally annoyed with James for running off without thinking of this.

He got to his feet and scanned the foliage. Nothing. He'd only been searching for a few minutes, but already he felt it was fruitless; the forest was huge and Sirius was good at hiding.

He glanced at his dripping hand, from which pain was now emanating in waves, and hoped vaguely that Sirius might find him by scenting the blood. In wolf form, Remus himself would have scented it a mile away.

He then remembered, with a sense of foreboding, that Sirius was not the only creature in the Forbidden forest capable of scenting blood. He heard a snuffle behind him and whirled around, drawing his wand. When the snuffle was followed by a familiar high-pitched whine Remus relaxed and tucked the wand away with an embarrassed shake of his head.

Watery blue eyes regarded him soulfully from behind fringes of black fur. Remus had the distinct impression that had Sirius been in human form, he would have been crying.

He walked to the dog's side, slowly, as though Sirius were a stray that might bolt, and when he was close enough, twisted a hand into the thick fur and used the other to scratch behind the dog's drooping ears. Sirius inched himself forward to nuzzle Remus's side, mournfully hiding his face in his friend's t-shirt.

That Sirius was choosing to remain a dog rather than speak frightened Remus. Sirius was a natural talker who loved the sound of his own voice. Whatever had happened in the shack had traumatized Sirius into silence, and that was disturbing indeed.

Eventually, Sirius backed up a step and sat himself cross-legged on the grass. His eyes were red, his neck bowed, his hair mussed and he was refusing to look Remus in the eye, but at least he was_ human_.

Remus sat opposite and waited, trying and failing to ignore the sinking feeling in his chest. Sirius was quietly considering his words, reining in emotions before he spoke. Sirius _never_ considered his words.

"Harry doesn't know James," Sirius growled out finally.

"What do you mean?"

Sirius shook his head and sniffed back what might have been a sob. No further explanation was forthcoming.

A number of possibilities paraded around Remus's head: _James is an undercover Auror; the war's still going on and he hasn't been able to return to his family_. _ Harry was mixed up at birth: unlikely, but not impossible … James _can't_ have died young … He _can't_ have._

"How do you know?" he pressed. "Harry wouldn't have said that."

"He didn't know James's birthday," Sirius managed tightly.

Remus's mind quickly provided and dismissed several harmless reasons as to why a fifteen year old would not know his own father's birthday. "Are you sure - I mean did you ask - Did Harry say anything else?" Remus heard his voice echoing around the trees as it rose. He thought again of the dark creatures potentially lurking behind the trees and glanced about, chastised.

Sirius shook his head, his attention fixed firmly on his feet as he picked at his boots.

"Then why do you assume - ?" Remus couldn't bring himself to say it. He didn't need to. He knew the conclusion Sirius had reached.

"It was the look on his face mostly," Sirius supplied, rushing his words now in an apparent effort to impede his tears. "He's so much like James, Remus; you can read him like a book."

Remus felt tears spring to his own eyes. He wasn't sure he believed this yet, but Sirius's conviction was a bad sign. "No," he said, unsure what he was denying exactly. A breeze blew by. It felt very slight, as though the forest should be providing them with something more appropriately dramatic. Birds twittered happily overhead.

"You'd think Harry would try to save him, wouldn't you?" Sirius commented. "You'd think, that if you could have a father like James, you'd want to save him from whatever it was that - "

"Maybe it's not that simple," Remus interrupted hotly, feeling a need to defend Harry who he was now feeling very sorry for. "Maybe James died from a heart attack, or something else that can't be prevented. Maybe he died saving someone's life!" He heard his voice rise again with hysteria, but felt no compulsion to lower it this time. "He could have died saving Lily! What if Harry saves James and ends up sacrificing the parent that actually raised him?! There are lots of possibilities Sirius, and don't forget, he's been here less than a day. If he's never even _met_ James before - if he's he never - never -" he choked on his sentence, particularly horrified at his own repeated use of the word 'died'. "Did you find out anything about Wormtail?" he asked softly. "Why Harry - ?"

Sirius shook his head, blinking rapidly.

"What about Fred? Did you - ?"

"No!" Sirius burst out.

Remus closed his eyes and forced his breathing to a slower pace.

"What do we do with this, Remus?" asked Sirius; a child appealing to a parent.

"I don't know."

"We'll warn James," Sirius decided.

"Not unless we know how to prevent it," said Remus. "Would _you_ want to know when you were going to die?"

"No," Sirius admitted. "You're right. We'll ask more questions, find out how to prevent it."

Remus considered. In the face James's death, did he still care about the timelines? Did they matter any more? Logic said _yes_. The part of Remus that depended on James's friendship said _perhaps_. The part that remembered the crazed violence of the wolf as James saved Snape from a gory end said _no_.

"Agreed."

…………………………………………………………………………

"So … what you're saying is … _Scabbers_ was _Peter_?" Fred spoke slowly, getting his head around it.

"Yeah, but we've got to find _Sirius_," said Harry fretfully.

"Scabbers?" Fred repeated. "_Scabbers_? Scabbers that me and George used as a substitute quaffel when Ginny stole our real one to get us back for enlarging her ears? Scabbers?"

"Yes, but -"

"Is Peter?"

"Yes."

"Pettigrew?"

"Yes!"

"Huh." Fred leaned back on his heals. The world had gone mad, but for some reason he was feeling quite calm about it. He looked back at the distressed boy standing before him and finally managed to snap his attention back to the here and now. "Do you know where he went?"

"Pettigrew?" asked Harry, incredulously.

"No. Sirius."

"Oh. No, but we have to find him!"

"He's in the Forbidden Forest," said James, appearing unexpectedly nearby. "Moony's looking for him."

Harry stared at his father in horror, no doubt wondering how much James had just overheard. James didn't look too distressed though, just cautious, so Fred figured he couldn't have been there long.

James did, however, become very still as he took in Harry's expression. "Any idea why he might have run off like that?" he asked.

Harry's mouth opened and closed a few times with no words forthcoming, and Fred realized that _he_ was going to have to field this one. However, since his brain seemed to be having trouble providing him with a suitable lie - Harry had barely outlined the real story of the marauders and Fred was still trying to grasp facts - he found himself pausing. He found himself doing the unthinkable and cursing the Marauders Map, undoubtedly the means by which James had found them so quickly.

"Sirius found out something about the future that he shouldn't have," he offered at last, settling for a portion of truth. Two, almost identical, faces turned to him, and for a moment, Fred wondered if this was what other people felt like when they saw him with George. The resemblance between the Potters really was uncanny. "Don't ask what it is James, we can't tell you."

"Sirius will," said James simply.

"Tell him not to," said Fred, his tone heavy with authority.

Harry winced, no doubt reflecting on how well Sirius would respond to being told what to do. James, however, looked to Harry, obviously trying hard to understand what was going on. "Something horrible will happen, won't it?" he said darkly. "Something that has you two - "

"We can't say," said Harry, miserably. "Please don't ask - Dad. Just don't."

The word 'Dad' came awkwardly and seemed to give James pause. Harry's fists were balled tensely as his eyes flicked from James to Fred. He seemed diminished somehow. Fragile. Fred hoped James would leave the questioning alone, if only to keep from burdening Harry further.

James seemed at a loss and Fred opened his mouth to speak - it being against his nature to let uncomfortable silences drift on - but before he'd uttered a word, James had stepped forward and wrapped his arms around his son. "I won't," he said softly. "I won't ask."

Harry screwed his eyes closed, his arms gripping James tightly, and Fred had the fleeting impression that he was holding in tears. They stood like that for a while, Fred fidgeting uncomfortably nearby, until James opened his eyes to fix Fred with an intent gaze over Harry's head.

Fred understood; James would not question _Harry_ any further, but would have words with Fred later. Fred nodded in tacit agreement before walking away toward the castle. He was headed for an unused room on the fifth floor. James would find him later with the map. Fred needed to clear his head before later came.


	15. White lies between friends

**Disclaimer:**Everything you recognise belongs to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing, and am making no profit

**Setting:**This story starts a couple of weeks after the end of GoF, but after that goes a little AU.

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**Chapter 15: White Lies Between Friends**

The boys burst into the dormitory, Remus going for the Marauder's Map, Sirius waiting pale faced by the door, ready to leave again at a moments notice. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," Remus recited, having located the map. He proceeded to gaze at it intently.

"Well?" asked Sirius impatiently.

Remus shot him a look. "James and Harry are still outside. Fred isn't with them. Peter is … in the library … um - "

"Where's Fred?"

"Wait, I'll just ... " Remus's eyes went back and forth, searching methodically. Finally, Sirius couldn't stand it any longer and went to look over his shoulder.

"There," he said, pointing. "Fifth floor. It's that room where the moth eaten robes were left."

"What do you think he's doing there?" asked Remus curiously.

"Who knows," said Sirius, ever disparaging now wherever Fred was concerned.

Remus gave him an _I'm being patient with you even though you don't deserve it _look and said: "Well, he's not leaving in a hurry - look, he's settled in that corner."

They stared at the map, each lost in thought. They'd agreed their first step was to glean where everyone was, but beyond that, they'd yet to plan a course of action.

"Fred's the key," said Sirius. "He knows what happened, he must, and it won't have been personal to him. _He's_the one more likely to talk. He's alone, we'll question him now." Remus raised a brow. "Or _you_ will," Sirius added. "He's more likely to talk to you."

"On the other hand, Sirius," said Remus. "Harry trusts us both, or seems to, and it's likely he wants to hold on to James as much as we do. I think it's to our advantage that this is personal to him."

Sirius thought back to the conversation he'd had with Harry in the Shack and felt very uncomfortable.

"What?" asked Remus.

"Nothing. It's just …"

"What?" Remus asked again, more forcefully.

"I don't want to question him again," Sirius admitted. "The look on his face when he realized I knew that James would die was just … No. I can't. Not yet. Especially when … "

"When what?" Remus prompted softly.

"Something ... " Sirius shifted awkwardly, trying to figure it out himself as he spoke. "He said something in the Shack - something about knowing me. I mean of course he _knows_ me, but … I think I'm family to him, Remus. Like - like a father." He coughed, and fought more a more detached tone. "I mean, think about it. If James had died, I'd do everything I could to see that … "

He trailed off, worried that Remus would laugh at reckless Sirius Black considering surrogate parenthood.

"Of course," said Remus, supportively. "James would choose you as Godfather."

Sirius felt relief. "I don't want to push him," he said. "He's probably still upset. It feels wrong."

"Alright," said Remus, but Sirius had an inkling he was only agreeing for the sake of peace, not because he believed Sirius was right. If Remus really wanted to question Harry he'd needle at the issue over the next few hours until Sirius agreed. That was how Remus worked: avoiding confrontation, but fighting quietly for what he wanted with looks and pointed words; a quality that drove Sirius insane. Sirius himself liked to voice his opinions, usually with great force and energy. He hated it when people didn't say what they meant. Right now, however, he was willing to accept what Remus said at face value if it meant getting his way in the short term. He wanted to question Fred _now_.

………………………………………………………………………………

The common room was rather empty when they reached it, one lone figure moving determinedly for the stairs to the boy's dormitories. Sirius stiffened as he identified James and stopped to stare at his friend. He felt as though he was seeing a ghost. The idea of James's death, and the need to save him, had been so strong in Sirius's mind that it was actually surprising now to see him in perfect health.

James, caught in his own thoughts, only belatedly noticed his two friends, and came to an abrupt halt to avoid barreling into them at the foot of the staircase. His demeanor became uncertain as he caught their expressions.

Remus nudged Sirius subtly in the ribs, bringing him back to reality. Sirius shook himself internally. "Where's your kid?" he asked, aiming for casual and coming up a little short. "You found him right?"

"Yeah, he's with Hagrid," said James, his gaze shifting back and forth between his friends. "Apparently they're close. I needed to do some things without him." He was wearing that wrung out, defeated look he'd had when it had finally registered that Lily thought him an arrogant bully. It was heartbreaking then and it remained so now. Something had happened between father and son since Sirius had last seen James.

"What did he say when you found him?" he asked bluntly.

"Nothing," said James quickly. "_We_" - he indicated himself and Remus_ - "_ were worried about what he might have said to _you_ though." He looked to Remus for support only to find him wearing the same bland look that served him so well in the face of Snape's taunts.

Sirius opened his mouth, balled his fists and closed his mouth again.

"Fine," James snapped, suddenly testy. "Fine. Just give me the map. I'm supposed to meet Fred - I need to find him." He held his hand out.

Remus didn't flinch, nor did he give James the map. "Why do you need to speak to Fred?" he asked instead.

Angry now, James waved his arms around in frustration as he spoke: "I want to know what happened to my _son_, and it's obvious _you two_ aren't going to tell me!"

"James, calm down - "

"No, Moony, I don't think I will. Give me the map!"

He held out his hand again and attempted to stare Remus down - a bold move when dealing with a werewolf. On rare occasions when the Marauders had been bored enough to turn to staring competitions for entertainment, Remus had never lost.

They never spoke about it, but the friendships of the Marauders functioned under two hierarchies; the first: the human hierarchy, was strongest under the new moon. Under this hierarchy James was leader, Sirius second in command, Remus third and Peter fourth. The second was the pack hierarchy, strongest under the full moon, in which Moony (as the only real wolf of the pack) was the Alpha, Padfoot second, then Prongs, then Wormtail. Either hierarchy could come into play at any given moment, depending on the situation and what it called for. Staring competitions leaned toward pack mentality.

Watching his friends silently battling it out, Sirius realized that James might actually win! Not wanting to think about the ramifications of that potential event - the devastating impact in could have on Remus's psyche as well as the friendship between Remus and James - he made a decision, grabbed the map from Remus and thrust it at James who snatched it up and left without a word.

Remus turned a sharp feral eye on his friend.

"Fred won't tell James anything," Sirius said in his own defense. In truth he had no real feeling for what Fred may or may not say, but he didn't want to upset Remus by voicing his real motives. Remus would never admit how close James had come to besting him. The alpha wolf would not reveal weakness.

He turned to the portrait hole. "Maybe," he said quietly. His eyes shifted to the photo album, still lying by the portrait hole, open on the page Harry had been at before he'd drawn his wand on Peter. Sirius went to retrieve it

Two photographs graced the page; the first was a black and white still of the Marauders smiling and laughing for a shot Lily had taken with a muggle camera; the second was a moving image of James and Peter roughhousing and being idiots together, again, laughing and smiling.

"Wormtail, what have you done?" Sirius murmured.

………………………………………………………………………………………

James found Fred leaning against the far wall of a pokey stone room on the fifth floor, arms crossed across his chest, deceptively casual, his look resigned as he acknowledged James. As if by mutual agreement, the two came to the centre of the room and sat cross-legged on a pile of old school robes, facing one another in an oddly formal way.

"I don't care about the timelines anymore," James opened flatly.

"No," said Fred, matching his tone. "I didn't think you would."

"My friends are lying to me, my son is a mess; you know _why_, and you're going to _tell_ me." James spoke with the authority that had always served him well with prefects.

"That's fine to say," said Fred, not at all intimidated, "but I_ am_ concerned about the timelines. So what we'll do is come to a compromise."

James laughed bitterly. "Compromise? No. You'll tell me what's going on. You'll tell me what Harry said to Sirius, why Harry is ready to hurt Wormtail and why Sirius's existence apparently offends you.

Fred pursed his lips. "I can honestly say I no longer have a problem with Sirius."

James snorted. "Oh yes, because that kind of intense hatred will resolve itself in an afternoon."

Fred shook his head. "I was misinformed, but Harry's filled in some gaps and I'll admit when I'm wrong. Truly. I'll patch it up later."

"And Harry's problem with Wormtail?"

Fred looked pained.

"I told you I don't care about the stupid timelines!" James exploded.

"I_do_," Fred answered strongly, unphased. James glared. This wasn't how this was supposed to go. _Fred_ was supposed to be the one being rattled by _James's_ calm concise words, not the other way around.

"I can't reveal everything," Fred continued, "but I'll tell you this so you understand: Harry is … important. Not just to you or me, but to the Wizarding World. His role in the war is _pivotal_ and if timelines concerning him are altered … who knows how many will suffer for it."

James sat dumbfounded for a second, unsure he'd heard correctly - whatever he'd been expecting Fred to reveal, responsibility for the outcome of the war certainly hadn't been a part of it - somehow he'd expected the problem to be more personal. "How can he be a pivotal figure in the war?" he blurted at last. "He's only fifteen!"

Fred paused to weigh his next words, no doubt considering their future impact. "Something … happened," he said, "when he was a baby. It made him a target. It made him famous. And it's not just Death Eaters after him. It's You Know Who himself. Harry's been in some tight spots."

"I wouldn't let anything happen to him," James interrupted, suddenly feeling a need to defend his parenting in the face of all this.

"You didn't have much choice James. Things happened at Hogwarts."

"Under Dumbledore's nose? Voldemort wouldn't dare!"

Hearing the forbidden name, Fred winced. "He dared. He planned a kidnapping a year in advance."

"But - no, that can't be right," said James, clinging to logic. "If Voldemort kidnapped him, how is he breathing? If what you're saying is true, he'd have been tortured and killed!"

"He escaped," said Fred simply, inadequately. The words explained nothing. "James, I'm sorry, but you must understand. We must be very careful in what we reveal, and not just for ourselves. Harry's very existence is the biggest blow against the dark arts our side has struck. If we change his past …"

"He_was_ tortured," James interrupted, realization dawning. Fred hadn't denied it, and James knew it was the truth. Something about the way Harry had gripped his shoulders, Fred's overprotective manner, and Harry's quickness to defend himself made James believe it was the truth. Fred stayed silent, confirming the suspicion.

"How do I prevent it, Fred?" James asked coolly. Fred shook his head, pity in his eyes. "He's your friend!" James insisted. "You can't tell me you don't want to help him!"

Fred raked his hands through his hair and refused to meet James's eyes. "I can't," he said. "If you try to change the events leading to it, You Know Who might be ruling the Wizarding World in my time. I'm sorry James. I just can't."

Angry tears prickled James's eyes. "I won't accept this," he said, and left the room.


	16. Thoughts of the wolf

**Disclaimer: **Everything you recognise belongs to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing, and am making no profit

**Setting: **This story starts a couple of weeks after the end of GoF, but after that goes a little AU.

…………………………………………………………………………………

**Chapter 16: Thoughts of the Wolf**

Remus walked slowly to the castle, Harry half a pace behind.

After James left the commonroom, Remus had trekked out to Hagrid's with the intension of speaking privately to Harry about James's fate, but when Hagrid had enthusiastically invited him in for tea and homemade biscuits, he'd found it difficult to refuse, and so the matter had gone on hold; the last thing Remus wanted was to bring Hagrid - who was likely to make a crying fuss over the issue, no doubt in the presence of James himself, whom he adored - into this mess. Instead he'd spent the afternoon adding what he could to conversation centred around magical beasts and where to find them, growing steadily sleepier by the fireplace.

Remus had always liked Hagrid; ever since first year when James and Sirius had discovered he was half giant by overhearing a private discussion in the staff bathroom. They'd relayed the information to Remus and Peter in low tones that would have been appropriate if they'd been announcing Hagrid's funeral, then argued hotly about who should approach him (it simply didn't occur to them to let the matter drop at that time). To the surprise of the others - who'd yet to figure out what Remus's absences and symptoms meant - Remus had volunteered. Even at eleven he'd felt himself far more capable of handling the situation delicately than the others.

In the end, the conversation was surprisingly relaxed. Hagrid had known Remus's secret, being one of the Hogwarts staff, and had felt more comfortable discussing his lineage with the werewolf than he'd have been in the presence of James, Sirius or Peter. Remus made no judgments and Hagrid had said that day that he felt a connection with Remus, both being misunderstood by most wizards and lucky to know Albus Dumbledore - "Great man, Dumbledore. Great man." Many pleasant afternoons had since been wasted in the small cabin with the oversized furniture.

After being invited in for tea, Remus had been glad to see Hagrid had taken a liking to Harry. He had no clue what James had said to explain Harry's presence, or what had passed between the half giant and the time traveller before he'd arrived, but it was clear Harry, like his father, had won Hagrid over with a wink and a smile. Harry had actually looked cheerful as he drank from Hagrid's bucket-sized cup. As James had earlier implied, Harry enjoyed Hagrid's company very much and knew him well - Remus had caught him cracking a knowing smile when Hagrid mentioned his love of dragons.

Harry's attitude toward Remus had also been revealed. This had been something Remus felt nervous about - Harry had only been with them for a day, and Remus had had little time to assess his true temperament and nature - so when Harry revealed a respect for Remus that bordered on that for a mentor, Remus had been pleasantly surprised.

When James had first revealed that Harry was aware of Remus's condition, Remus had taken it in stride, assuming that an older James had explained the situation to his son, and that Harry would most likely share the older Potter's views on werewolves. But after finding out that James had not been in the picture to pass on his open minded attitude to Harry, Remus had been unsure.

After a pleasant couple of hours exchanging mock horrified looks with Harry regarding Hagrid's lack of cooking skills, Remus had been certain that Harry did not hold his lycanthrope against him.

Eventually Hagrid realized they were out past curfew and sent them back to the castle.

Outside the illusion of peace provided by Hagrid's cabin, Remus was now snapping back to reality. They were alone. It was time.

Harry made his job easier for him by asking the first question himself. "Did you find Sirius?"

"I did," said Remus.

"And?"

"He told me about your conversation in the shack. He knows James will die," said Remus, deciding on a strategy of frank communication. Silence followed these words and Remus had to fight to resist the impulse to turn and look at Harry. Had he been too blunt? Their boots crunched on the ground. "Harry?"

"Will he tell my Dad?"

It took a Remus a second to realise that _'my Dad'_ was a reference to James. "I asked him not to," he said. "I don't think he will. He's not worried about the timelines anymore though and if he finds a way to prevent it, he will."

Remus had carefully kept his voice calm, not wanting to alienate Harry by making him angry or upset, but apparently this was a mistake because Harry was now staring at him with an expression of disbelief: "How can you behave as though everything were normal?"

Remus felt panic, but didn't show it. He'd come off as callous. It was dangerous for a werewolf to appear callous. People could get the wrong idea and think you lacked humanity. "How well do you know me Harry?" he asked tonelessly. There was another prolonged silence and Remus interrupted it. "You know what I am, yet you still respect me. That would imply that you know me fairly well. Either that or you were raised by unusually tolerant people, in which case I thank whoever it was who raised you for forgetting the part about werewolves being terrible monsters -"

Harry snorted and Remus turned to regard him, confused and even more distressed by this response. "Oh, I don't think you're a monster!" said Harry hurriedly, his face turning red.

"Good," said Remus, not completely reassured. He turned away and resumed walking, feeling Harry's eyes burning into the back of his head.

"But how can you act so normal?" Harry repeated eventually.

Remus sighed, maybe Harry understood less than Remus had assumed he did. "You mean how does someone who's only part human _pretend_ to be normal?" he asked, a little more harshly than he intended.

Harry appeared taken aback and stared with his mouth hanging open. "No! I didn't mean that at all! I meant how can you act so normal when you just found out that someone who is supposed to be one of your _best friends_ is going to die?! You don't even look upset. You just said you knew without even … Don't you care?"

The open anguish on Harry's face made Remus scold himself for being so self-absorbed. He also felt his forced façade of calm falling away; his fears for James rising in response to Harry's grief.

Harry, seeing Remus's reaction to his words, was contrite. "I'm sorry," he said, "I'm sorry Professor I didn't mean to make it sound like you don't care. I know you must, it's just - "

"Did you just call me 'Professor'?" Remus interrupted, still shaken.

"No," said Harry.

"You did! You just called me 'Professor'." Remus's head was reeling as something else that had been bothering him fell into place, "and Fred keeps calling me 'Lupin'. He doesn't use my first name, or if he does it sounds awkward. I'm your Professor. What do I teach?"

"Defence," said Harry quietly.

Under any other circumstances, Remus would have been stoked. He'd always known he'd never be an Auror, his ideal employment, but teaching Defence to Hogwarts students would be a fantastic career - assuming, of course, that he could hold the job down longer than the average employee. Now, though, in the shadow of James's future, his own good fortune felt hollow.

"Am I a good teacher?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Harry, smiling sadly. "The best."

Remus tried to think of something comforting to say. Nothing felt appropriate though, so instead he decided to get back down to business. "Harry, look, Sirius won't say anything to James and neither will I, but we do want to know more about what happened. If it can be prevented - " he faltered at the look on Harry's face. "You don't think it can be changed?"

Harry tilted his head toward Gryffindor tower. "I don't know that it _should_ be," he finally admitted. "I'd like it to be, don't get me wrong, but - but what if -" he broke off, obviously unwilling to finish the thought.

Remus turned this over in his mind. Harry had not said that it _couldn't_ be done. The question for him was whether or not it _should_ be done. This seemed to rule out terminal illness as the cause of death. There was hope in that, Remus decided. But what were Harry's reservations?

"What if James, by continuing to live, inadvertently changes something, creates an event worse than his own death?" Remus ventured, thinking again that perhaps James had done something typically heroic and overdramatic to save someone from a terrible fate. Perhaps Lily. Perhaps Harry.

Harry nodded, relieved. "I'm glad you understand," he said. "I don't think Sirius will."

Remus felt like crying. Getting information out of Harry was going to be twice as hard as he'd originally thought, because Harry felt obligated to leave history the way it stood. As much as he might want James back, Harry would not save him.

"Sirius is upset and confused right now," he said, almost choking on words that described himself as well as his friend.

They reached the front doors and Remus turned to Harry. "Don't waste this time," he said. "Spend as much of it as you can with James. You'll both be better for it."

Harry nodded, accepting this at face value, and led the way back to Gryffindor Tower.

Remus watched him a moment, hoping his last comment would have an impact. The more time Harry spent with James, the more he should realise how wonderful it would have been to grow up with him. Remus hoped it would make Harry more open to the idea of changing the timelines.

He wondered how Sirius's conversation with Fred was going.


	17. Red Curtains

**Disclaimer:** Everything you recognise belongs to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing, and am making no profit.

**Setting:** This story starts a couple of weeks after the end of GoF, but after that goes a little AU.

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**Chapter 17: Red Curtains**

Sirius returned to the dormitory in defeat.

Why, oh why, had he given James the Marauder's Map? He _should_ have snatched it from Remus and used it himself. Instead, he'd let James be the one to talk to Fred. James, who had no idea what was really going on and would never in a million years get Fred to reveal anything useful.

Sirius had given them a little time - at Remus's suggestion - before going to find the room they'd met in empty. He'd then made a mad search for the pair, gripped by the sudden certainty that time was running short, but had - not surprisingly considering the sheer volume of hiding places within the castle - been unsuccessful.

Sirius hadn't had to search the castle for anyone in over a year - the map had always been available - so the unfruitful search had him doubly frustrated. He'd always suspected there to be a good reason for keeping James happy, and now he knew it was to keep him from running off with the Marauders Map.

He sank into his four-poster with a sigh and stared at the ceiling, unsurprised to find it spinning. He was drained and clearly his head had now given up for the night. He'd missed dinner. He closed his eyes and let the room turn, allowing blissful darkness to take his mind. Everyone had a limit and Sirius had reached his.

"Um … Sirius?"

"Gah!" Sirius leaped up, his bed bouncing under his weight, his wand flying into his hand to be pointed at … Peter … whose wide-eyed face was poking out between the red velvet curtains of his own bed.

"Are you alright?" he asked, concerned.

Sirius felt very stupid. He lowered his wand. " How long have you been here?" he asked tiredly. He'd thought the room empty. "And where have you been all afternoon?" he added, suddenly feeling Peter's absence from the afternoon's events.

"I came in at curfew," Peter answered helpfully. "I was here when you walked in. McGonagall gave me a wand. I came back ages ago to see if anyone found Harry, but you were all off somewhere, so I went to the Library. Where is everyone?"

Sirius settled back down on his bed and closed his eyes, feeling the tension slide from his body as blankness took him again. "Remus is with Harry," he slurred. They're at Hagrid's. James is with Fred … maybe."

"Oh," said Peter, sounding disappointed. "I was hoping someone got my wand back." He seemed forlorn. Caught up in his own problems, Sirius found himself unsympathetic. "Are you sure you're alright?" Peter asked again, and Sirius realised Peter was feeling out of the loop, digging for a narrative of whatever it was he'd missed.

"No - " Sirius admitted.

The dormitory door swung open, saving Sirius from needing to elaborate, and in came Fred, his gaze flying over the room to rest coldly on Peter. "Sirius, I need to talk to you," he said abruptly, his eyes never leaving Peter's face.

"Where's James?" asked Sirius rudely, forgetting momentarily his desperate need to speak with Fred. He was tired now, and not in the mood for Fred's accusing stares, whomever they were directed at.

"No idea," said Fred. "But we should talk. Elsewhere."

Peter was nonplussed. "You can talk to me too," he said defensively, and now Sirius _was _sympathetic. Fred had been perfectly amiable with Peter before this moment, but was now regarding him like something best squashed. Realising that the focus of Fred's apparent hatred seemed to have shifted, Sirius suddenly found himself very curious as to what Fred might have to say. He nodded and stood.

"Sirius!"

"I'll be back Peter."

They left a disgruntled Peter behind.

…………………………………………………………………………………

"Isn't that a broom closet?" asked Fred with furrowed brows.

"_No_," Sirius replied, emphasizing the word as though Fred were slow, "It's the _Butterbeer room_."

Sirius sauntered in first, snatched a bottle from the closest shelf and guzzled half of it down in one go. Fred locked the door behind them and turned to regard Sirius apprehensively.

"So," said Sirius, crossing his arms, smugly inviting Fred so say his piece. Something about Fred's manner was telling him he had the upper hand here, and he was planning to milk it for all it was worth.

To his annoyance, Fred ignored him for a moment, casually lifting a bottle and examining the ingredients on the label. Then he looked Sirius in the eye. "I owe you an apology," he said frankly.

"For what?" asked Sirius. "_Specifically_."

"I had you wrong," Fred admitted. "I can't say why - timelines and all that - but Harry said some things that put you in different light, so I'm sorry."

He held out a hand, obviously hoping Sirius would forgive and forget without a full explanation. Sirius just stared at it. "If you're sorry," he said slowly, "Tell me how James dies."

Fred withdrew the hand. "Can't," he said in a tone that brooked no argument, reminding Sirius, quite infuriatingly, of his brother Regulus when Sirius has suggested that they defy their family together.

"Tell me why you had me wrong then," he said bitterly, choosing to come back to James in a moment - if Fred was going to put up a brick wall on that topic, Sirius would try attacking it later from a different angle - "You owe me that."

"I can't say."

Sirius now had the distinct impression he'd somehow lost his upper hand, or had perhaps never really had one to begin with, and that made him angry. "What would you do if someone told you your _twin_ was going to die?" he huffed harshly.

"I'd try to save him of course," said Fred, in an infuriating reasonable way. "I understand - "

"Do you?" Sirius interrupted bitterly, taking another swig of butterbeer, choosing to ignore for the moment that Fred, despite his apparent calm, had turned quite pale. Somewhere in the back of Sirius's tired mind, he registered that Remus's words about James dying for a greater cause seemed to be ringing true. And just then, another rather horrible piece of the puzzle fell into place.

"What about Peter?"

Fred stiffened. "What about him?"

"You had it wrong," said Sirius. "Whatever you thought I did, you had it wrong. It was Peter. Peter's done something. The way Harry reacted to him before, it wasn't just dislike, it was instinct, and he was looking at that picture of James and Peter. Peter did something that led to James's death! Fred. What did he _do_?! What did you think _I_ did?!"

He'd lunged forward to grip Fred by the collar of his robes and Fred now looked to be somewhere between panic and fury. "Get off me!" He shoved Sirius away. "_Stop_ asking about this Sirius," he said. "Just leave it alone." He fled the room before Sirius could say any more.

……………………………………………………………………………………

Peter was feeling hardly done by. What had happened? He hadn't done anything wrong, but for some reason he was being left alone in the dormitory while the rest of them were out, presumably changing history without him.

Something told him it was Harry's fault that he'd been cut from the loop. Harry had said something to Fred. Fred had been nice enough before, but now?

The dormitory door creaked open to admit - as though conjured from Peter's own musings - Fred, who dragged himself wearily to his bed, pulled off his shoes and jumper as though planning to go to sleep, but then stopped in order to stare at Peter in a most disconcerting way, as though was unpleasantly surprised with his appearance and couldn't tear his eyes away. The silence was deafening.

The door creaked open again, this time revealing Harry in the doorway. He peered around the room before also settling his eyes on Peter - those cold eyes. He then exchanged a dark look with Fred. "Where's my Dad?" he demanded.

"I … had a talk with him," said Fred hesitantly. "It shouldn't effect the timelines, but he said he needed to think about … things." He looked as though he wanted to say more, but a significant look at Peter made it clear why he would not.

Harry nodded, accepting this, and wandered to Sirius's bedside table from which he took parchment and quill. He then began writing even as he walked to his own bed, propping himself up on the headboard and closing the curtains to hide himself from view.

Peter grunted. He didn't like being left alone in the room with these two. It didn't feel safe somehow, and now Fred had gone back to staring at him. He shifted uncomfortably, then drew his own curtains and snuck beneath his covers, pulling the blankets to his chin. He fancied he could still feel Fred's gaze on the curtains however, and continued to fidget, unable to relax.

A minute later the door creaked open again.

"Fred," Peter heard Remus say in acknowledgement.

"Lupin," said Fred.

"Did Harry get back alright?"

"Yeah. He's in bed."

"James? Sirius?"

Silence. Then - "I expect they'll be back any minute now."

"Right." Remus yawned loudly. "Well, I'm for bed."

"G'night"

"Night."

Peter listened as the curtains closed around two beds and let out a relieved sigh. Remus was here. As long as Remus was here, Peter was safe. He drifted off to sleep.

……………………………………………………………………………………………….

Half an hour passed before the door opened again, and if anyone had been watching they might have wondered at the remarkable way in which it opened and closed on its own.

……………………………………………………………………………………………….

Half an hour more and James and Sirius were creeping quietly in, having found each other in the commonroom on their way back to the dormitory.

"They're all asleep," James whispered.

"Mmm," Sirius replied. "Well, it's late. I think _I'll_ collapse now too."

Neither moved toward his bed. Sirius just stood there looking miserable, and James found himself compelled to say something comforting, floundering about for words that might close the uncomfortable distance that had come between them since their earlier argument. Sirius got in first, however, lunging at James and gripping him in a hug so tight that James's thought his ribs might break. A little overwhelmed, James put his own arms about his friend's shoulders and realised, with a sense of growing confusion, that Sirius was _shaking_. Then, without looking James in the eye, Sirius released his hold, retreated to his bed and drew the curtains.

James stood alone, feeling more than a little lost. Sirius knew something - something terrible beyond anything Fred had hinted at to James. The last person Sirius had hugged like that was Remus, right before his trial before the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Magical Creatures.

The room was quiet. A high contrast to the night before during which Peter had snored, Fred had tossed and turned and Harry had been crying out through his nightmares. James closed his eyes as he realised Harry had most likely been revisiting whatever it was he had experienced at Voldemort's hands, and decided he was glad he couldn't hear his son now.

He sat up and gazed at Harry's closed curtains, suddenly afraid of what he would find if he opened them. Harry, or some twisted, scarred version of Harry who would turn to James and tonelessly accuse him of leaving him to Voldemort?

Needing to dispel the creepy vision from his head, he abruptly moved to Harry's bed and pulled the red curtain aside. He stared. The bed was empty. A note lay on the pillow.

_Dad,_

_I've taken your cloak and broomstick. I'll be gone awhile. Can't risk changing the timelines any more. I'm tempted too much. I'll be back when the potion is ready._

_I love you._

_Harry._

Lily awoke to a high-pitched beeping. "A few more minutes," she mumbled, trying to roll away. She then remembered that she was at Hogwarts, where no one had alarm clocks, and that James had charmed her hand mirror to beep when he wanted to speak to her.

She blinked the sleep from her eyes and reached for the offending object, ready to rip into James for his thoughtlessness waking her at this hour, but the words died in her throat as she flipped it open, her heart twisting painfully as she saw that James's eyes were red and puffy. It was a shocking sight. She'd never seen him cry before.

"Meet me in the room of requirement," he choked out before snapping his own mirror closed, leaving her staring at her own reflection, still half asleep and trying to comprehend.

Then, quietly donning cloak and shoes, she slipped from the room.


	18. The Room of Requirement

Disclaimer: They're not mine and they never will be :-(

**Disclaimer:** Everything you recognise belongs to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing, and am making no profit.

**Setting:** This story starts a couple of weeks after the end of GoF, but after that goes a little AU.

…………………………………………………………………………………

**Chapter 18: The Room of Requirement**

The Room of Requirement had transformed itself into the usual cosy bedroom. Candlelight flickered from sconces, a rosy little fire burned away in the hearth and cross-legged on the thick red carpet were James and Lily. Their knees were pressed together, toes just touching, and James, not for the first time, thought how adorable it was that she liked to feel the carpet on her bare feet. The thought was fleeting, a brief distraction from his sad reality.

She reached across his lap and grasped his hand in a comforting gesture. He stared at it.

"You don't have to tell me," she said. "I'd like you to. I'm here to listen, but you don't have to tell me. I'm just here for you, alright?"

She was trying to be considerate but her words only brought on a new wave of tears to be fought back. James found himself fixating on the feeling of her hand in his as he tried to pull himself together. In that moment it seemed terribly important that he speak without sobbing.

"H-Harry," he floundered, speaking a little too soon. "Y-you know, my cousin?" She nodded. "He ran off, and I … I don't know where he is." He winced inwardly, regretting the words as soon as he'd uttered them. They didn't cover the half of what was going on and he realised at once what Lily's reaction would be:

"W-well, you … I mean, you should tell someone then," she said, a little uncertain. "Or, at least go out and look for him under that cloak of yours. Is he the type to do something stupid, like go into the forest? I-I mean … if he's anything like _you_ - "

"You don't understand," James interrupted, speaking quickly, stopping her in her tracks. He realised with some embarrassment just how much panic had shone through his words when she reached out again, this time to take both his hands in hers.

"I'm listening," she said placidly, though the way her eyes were shining betrayed how upset she was to see him this way. He made sure he was fully together before speaking again.

"He didn't want me to find him," he explained. "He left me a note. I don't have it with me, but - "

"What did it say?" she asked, gentle but eager. "Why did he go?"

"He's afraid," said James. "He … " - _just say it James_ - "He's not born yet in this time, you see. He and Fred used a time turner to get here, and he's afraid of altering the timelines."

There it was, nice and simple.

Lily stared. James had blurted this information out very quickly and it was taking her a moment to digest it. To her credit though it was a remarkably short moment. "You mean, he's from the future, he came back in time, and now he's run off because he thinks that staying _here_ might change the future for the worse?"

"Yes," said James, aware that although she'd caught on quickly, she didn't actually believe him yet. Her tone told him that while she wouldn't dismiss what he'd said out of hand, her muggleborn sense of the ridiculous was coming to the fore. She'd need to question the situation from all angles before accepting it fully. She released his hands and leaned away.

"_Why_ did they come back in time?"

James sighed, though secretly he was a bit relieved. Lily being distracted from her empathy was helping him to get a grip on his emotions. "It was an accident apparently."

"Oh yes. And _why_ are they staying so long? Wouldn't it make sense for them to go back to their own time right away if they're worried about changing things?"

"Dumbledore's got a potion in the mix," James explained. "It'll basically erase any changes they've already made to the timelines. If they go too far, or if they set something huge in motion, the potion won't undo it. But Dumbledore seemed to think it worth the risk."

She nodded as though that made sense. "So … why did he run off, if … is he _really_ your cousin?"

"Yes," James lied firmly. He'd been prepared for that one. She looked at him suspiciously and suddenly he feared he'd answered too quickly.

"He's not a Beaubaton's student though, is he?" she asked, thankfully letting it slide. "Not even a hint of an accent that _I_ could hear."

"No, he's Hogwarts," James confirmed. She was a little irritated now at being lied to, but that only relaxed him even more. He'd always liked it when she got fired up.

"Of course," she said. "So, I take it you don't think we should look for him? You think he was right to run?"

James shook his head. "I don't know," he admitted sadly. "He's been through a lot, and maybe he's right and it's safer this way, but honestly, I don't know if that's enough for me. I mean he's going to be my family, right?" _Yours too, _he added silently, and cursed to himself as he felt his control over his feelings slip again. What was _wrong_ with him?

There was a long pause as Lily took him in. "There's more to this, isn't there," she said quietly, slipping her hands back into his. "I've never seen you like this. Look at you, you're - " she cut herself off before actually pointing out his unusually wretched state and James was grateful. "Just … if you want me to help you can tell me, or … I mean … well, you know I'm here for you." She was fighting an inner battle; push him for details so she could help him in an informed way (her first instinct, she was a manager at heart), or let him open up on his own terms (the course of action she intellectually considered more appropriate for their relationship).

"I thought I didn't _have_ to tell you," he said with a wry smile, appreciating her more than ever as a tear dripped down his face. She laughed a little; caught, then waited as he mulled over how much more to say.

"Don't tell anyone," he said quietly, deciding he'd share a _little_ more and feeling guilty he wouldn't share it all. Despite what he'd said to Fred earlier, he _was _still concerned about the timelines, and that compelled him to hold back. "Promise?"

"Promise," she agreed, waiting.

He took a breath. "Harry said something to Sirius before he ran off, something terrible about the future. Sirius told Remus, and now they both act like someone's died but won't tell me why. Harry wouldn't say either, so I went to Fred and he - well he hinted that Harry's been hurt by Voldemort. You know, _really_ hurt." The word "tortured" just didn't want to pass his lips, as though the very sound would compound his failure as protector of his son.

"That's horrible," said Lily sympathetically, her uninformed reaction to the news not half as severe as James's own. He cringed inwardly.

"He's afraid he might try to change his own past I think, or avoid it."

"Well, why shouldn't he change it?" she asked reasonably. "Why shouldn't he change such a terrible thing? I'd think he'd have every right to avoid-"

"Fred thought it would change other things," James interrupted, "put other people in danger."

"Of course," she said, inclining her head, smiling sadly, "timeline theory." James nodded. "Well, whatever's going on here, I don't think he should be alone," she said decisively. "We should find him. Where might he have gone?"

Something about her no nonsense approach made the course of action seem obvious and James found his tears taking a back seat once more as he answered. "I don't know. If he went to Hogsmeade and found a fireplace he could be anywhere. He knows some of the secret passages and he took my broomstick."

"He'd want to avoid people though, wouldn't he?"

"I suppose. In fact, yeah, he would. The Forbidden Forest?"

"Would he risk that?"

"I don't know. I just met him yesterday, Lil."

"Right."

"But it _is_ a starting point."

He stood, and as she went to follow he stopped her. "You should stay here," he said. "I'll get my cloak and come back. Then we'll go together." He moved to the door.

"Wait!" she cried. "You don't want to tell Dumbledore?"

"The less people involved the better, I think," said James, his natural instinct being to avoid teachers when loved ones were breaking rules.

This seemed to make Lily nervous though. "I haven't been into the forest before James," she said. "It's forbidden for a _reason_ you know."

James gave her a half grin and took her gently by the shoulders. "I'll let you in on a secret. I go in there quite a lot. I know what traps _not_ to walk into. You're not exactly defenseless, but if something comes up you're not prepared for, I should be able to handle it."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Why am I not surprised? Alright, get your cloak. I'm giving you five minutes to get back here."

"Five?!"

"Four and fifty-seven seconds now."

He kissed her on the lips and dashed out, always up for a challenge.

Alone, she leaned back against a bedpost, her brow creased with worry as she wondered what it was he was still holding back from her.


	19. Searching for Harry

Disclaimer: They're not mine and they never will be :-(  
  
Three cheers for Ms Rowling!!!  
  
...................................................................  
  
Remus lay awake in bed. Listening.   
  
He'd woken some time ago and had been unable to get back to sleep. Considering the events of the day he found it remarkable that he had been able to sleep at all.  
  
He closed his eyes and concentrated on the sounds around him.   
  
There was wind. Most certainly a gale had risen up since he and Harry had made the trip back to the castle from Hagrid's hut.  
  
There was the light rattling of the windows.   
  
The subtle swish of curtains.  
  
Peter's snores.  
  
  
  
Fred's steady breathing.  
  
Remus was grateful for the last. Fred's fatigue had been bringing him to the brink of madness. Remus hoped morning would find their guest a little calmer; more willing to discuss James's future   
  
Remus listened for Harry's distressed mumbles and found no sign of them. Good. That meant Harry might be free of nightmares tonight. Remus listened for the boy's breathing and found no sign of that either. Odd. His heightened senses could usually pick that sort of thing out.  
  
He listened for Sirius. It took less than thirty seconds for Remus to identify the familiar sound of Sirius breath and also deduce from the irregular sound that Sirius was also awake.  
  
Satisfied with that he turned to finding evidence of James's presence. Of the three marauders James was usually the hardest to hear at night, something Remus had discovered during his first year at Hogwarts. He'd had trouble sleeping that year. Listening to his friends as they slept had become a sort of game he used to amuse himself. A way to while away the tedious hours.  
  
He stretched his senses out, searching for James. He found nothing. Irritated with himself, he continued to listen and quietly began to take deeper breaths, searching for James's scent. He hoped he wasn't losing his knack.  
  
He scented the wind, the trees outside, the soap that had been used on the sheets, Sirius, Peter, Fred, but not James. Only traces of him.   
  
Slowly, he sat up and silently moved his curtains. He didn't want to draw Sirius's attention to him, the other marauder was most likely trying to sleep, so he kept his movements quiet as he slipped over to James's bed and pulled the curtain aside.   
  
As he'd half suspected it would be, the bed was empty.   
  
A hopeful thought occurred to him. Perhaps Harry had taken his advice. Perhaps he had taken his father somewhere for a heart to heart. Maybe James was off having his life saved by his son.  
  
Remus crept over to Harry's bed and found that it too was empty.  
  
He smiled to himself. This might all turn out for the best after all.  
  
At that moment the dormitory door swung open and James trotted into the room heading straight for his trunk.  
  
It Remus a second to realize Harry wasn't with him.  
  
"Where's your kid?" he whispered, making James jump about two feet in fright.  
  
"You should whistle a tune if you're up! It's inconsiderate to make people wet their pants!"  
  
"Sorry."  
  
"What's going on?" Sirius demanded softly from where he was standing at the foot of his bed.  
  
James started again and glared at his best friend. Sirius returned the look with a level stare.   
  
"I just have to take care of something," James whispered as he returned to his trunk, threw it open and began to rummage through it.   
  
Sirius looked to Remus, "Did you say Harry was missing?"  
  
"He's not in his bed," said Remus.  
  
"It's fine. Lily and I can find him. Go back to bed."  
  
Sirius looked surprised, "Don't be a daft idiot, if he's run off we can help you find him."  
  
"You can help me by telling me what's really going on here," said James harshly, "until then you can go back to sleep. We're his parents we can find him without you."  
  
For a moment it seemed as though Sirius might reply with an angry comment, but he closed his mouth when he saw James snap his trunk shut in frustration.  
  
"He took it with him you fool," James murmured to himself before marching out of the dormitory, giving neither Remus or Sirius a second look.  
  
Sirius turned to Remus. "Come on," he said. Remus followed him into the common room without question.  
  
....................................................................................  
  
The first place Harry thought of running to was Diagon Alley. After all he'd found refuge their post blowing up his Aunt Marge, it might be reasonable to assume he'd find refuge their again.   
  
After thinking that through though he found he didn't think it was such a great idea. Back then he'd had Fudge's support and being "The boy who lived" to convince the innkeeper to let him stay. Now he had no money and would only be seen as "They boy with the ridiculous hair and glasses."  
  
He flew over Hogsmeade, quietly becoming frustrated with his father's broom. No doubt one of best money could buy in this era, James's Comet100 didn't handle quite like Harry's own Firebolt. It kept wanting to slip slightly to the left.   
  
He steered carefully over to The Three Broomsticks, from which he could hear cheery conversation slipping out in bits and pieces. The fires were lit and a rosy glow shone lazily through the frosted windows.  
  
Harry took a breath. All he had to do was stride over to the fireplace and use the floo powder before anyone bumped into him.  
  
He pulled his father's cloak tighter about his shoulders and touched the hood to make sure it was still in place.  
  
Satisfied that he was still hidden he reached forward and pushed his way in.  
  
"That's odd," he heard a cheerful Rosemerta call out. "The door just opened up but no one came in."  
  
"I'll close it!" called someone else, "It's cold out. Let's keep the heat in uh."  
  
No one noticed the hand that reached into the floo powder.  
  
Everyone cried out in surprise as the fire turned green and huge.  
  
"Who threw.......?"  
  
But Harry didn't hear the rest.  
  
.......................................................................................  
  
James led Lily confidently through the forest. She was scared but holding her chin high as she followed him. He had already assured her that she would be safe as long as he was their to guide her, but it hadn't seemed to help a lot.  
  
He wondered whether he should tell her just how well he really did know this forest, and that many of the more frightening creatures here would recognize him as a member of a werewolf pack. There were few monsters in this forest who could mess with Prongs without fearing the wrath of Moony.  
  
He decided against it, but noted that he really did need to have a heart to heart with Remus soon. If James made it clear just how devoted he was to Lily he was certain Remus would agree to let her in on the secrets.  
  
In the meantime James was half enjoying playing the protective boyfriend, even if he could sense Lily's slight irritation at his machismo. She was perfectly capable of defending herself. Almost as good as James and she knew it.  
  
James had to remind himself how terrifying it had been the first time he had ventured out into these parts, with the protection of a werewolf and huge black dog no less.  
  
The only protection Lily was aware of was the human James. No wonder she was skittish.  
  
She gripped his shoulder.  
  
James turned to comfort her, words of assurance on the tip of his tongue, but found her expression to be different to the one he was expecting.  
  
"James we're going about this in all the wrong ways," she said, "I mean, if you were Harry, would you go hiding out in the forest? He's got three days to waste. Even you wouldn't spend three days in here."  
  
James opened his mouth to object. He knew that he could quite easily spend a few days in the forest if he had to. But Harry was a different story. Harry wasn't an animagus. He wasn't under the implied protection of a terrifying dark creature.  
  
"Where else might he go do you think?" Lily asked. "I know you've only just met him, but has he said anything at all that might give you some kind of clue?"  
  
James thought.  
  
..........................................................................................  
  
"I don't know where James and Lily went, but think about it, where would Harry go?"  
  
Sirius and Remus were making their way down the tunnel that led to the Shrieking Shack.  
  
"He'd get to closest fireplace and floo out of here until he has to get back."  
  
"Right,"  
  
"But where would he floo to?"  
  
"No harm in trying 'Weasley residence'. His best friend is Fred's brother after all. He'd probably go there I reckon."  
  
"Alright. Weasley residents it is."  
  
..................................................................................................  
  
Okay, one more down. This story is turning out to be a tad longer than I originally thought it would be. But as it's still fun to write, I'm not complaining to hard.  
  
Templar Otmena  
  
Thanks dude! I really enjoyed Neighbors. It was huge fun. I also love it when people compliment the character stuff, cause that's what I enjoy writing most. Also, I like to make characters suffer, especially Peter, who's just a glutton for punishment really. Little leach! There are indeed references to Prongs. Still unsure as to whether I will bring out the stag within the man, but stay tuned, more to come.  
  
Coffechick  
  
I'm unsure as to what skills the marauders really possessed while they were still in Hogwarts. I always assumed they were a cut above the rest, but I would have thought their skills would have been developed a bit more after Hogwarts. They can win duals against fellow students sure, but Death Eaters? I give em another year before they're at their full strength. As for Harry not wanting to change the future, he's a boy who puts the fortunes of others above his own. He's fully aware that saving his parent's lives will destroy the lives of countless others. If James and Lily hadn't dies that night, Harry would never have sent Voldemort into hiding the war would have had no respite. Lily will meet Harry soon. Thanks for the kind words.  
  
Stormyice  
  
No, the older Weasley kids are still at primary school age. Fred and George are soon to be born, Percy is two. Bill and Charlie's ages are never specified in the books to my knowledge, but I'd put them in the ball park of around seven and nine years of age at this point in history.  
  
Ness Lupin  
  
No. Driving you mad is a good thing! :)  
  
Kitsu Black  
  
Yeah I thought it was about time for a little Lily action.  
  
Kat44  
  
Lily may never know. Mwahahahaha.  
  
Calimora  
  
I couldn't agree more.   
  
Olivia Wood  
  
And the award for the shortest review goes to.............:)  
  
Kitten  
  
You're absolutely right. Small continuity fault on my behalf. Thanks for pointing that one out. Hope this chapter puts it right.  
  
This Parrot has ceased to be  
  
Dude! I love your way of thinking. Theory is close but not dead on. :)  
  
Roonblah  
  
I like Lily. I think she's a model human being. I think she's the common sense to the marauders insanity while still being a fiery red head. The girl should feature in far more of my chapters. But will possibly not ever know the whole truth.  
  
Nightspear  
  
I think Peter would have betrayed them anyway. Hope you liked where Harry ended up. Thanks for the reviews!  
  
Stee Parker  
  
Uh, I may have been a little out in my estimation of how many chapters this story would chew up. Plenty more to come!  
  
Erindipity  
  
Thank-you! I'm aware the premise sounds dodgy. Time travel stories on this site are usually drivel so I'm glad when people actually take the time to read my ramblings based on the summary.  
  
SpangalDaCanary  
  
Holy cow! Thank-you! The thesaurus is indeed a wonderful tool.  
  
EldarWannabe  
  
Always love the characterization comments. Cheers dude!  
  
Witch@heart  
  
Okay, first off, no way was Orlando cuter than Johnny in PotC! Also, can't speak for Legolas, but Rohan can be yours. I'm sure you'll put it to good use. ;-) He he. Start running now Prongs indeed! You've almost hit the nail on the head, trouble is indeed rising in the Lily/James land. Thanks for reviewing!  
  
TAMI  
  
Always love a good drunken ramble! Thankyou! 


	20. The Burrow

Disclaimer: They're not mine and they never will be :-(  
  
Three cheers for Ms Rowling!!!  
  
...................................................................  
  
Harry sat cross legged on the rug and stared into the fireplace. He could feel the gaze of the wide eyed chubby child, occupying an armchair behind him, drilling into his back, but refused to turn and look at him. He knew the child would start grinning again if Harry gave him attention. Harry didn't want anyone to be grinning at him.  
  
"Can I have a go on your broomstick tomorrow?" the child finally asked, "It's a good one isn't it?"  
  
"I think so, yeah." Harry answered, still fixated on the flames, "You might be a bit little to ride it though."  
  
"Am not. I'm a big brother now! Not the youngest any more. Dad'll let me ride a broom any day. Like Bill. Bill let me ride his broom when Mum and Dad weren't looking. You can let me ride yours. It's safe."  
  
Harry smiled, "You'll be the Gryffindor Quidditch Team captain in no time," he murmered.  
  
Charlie grinned.  
  
Bill came running into the room full pelt, skin and bones in baggy pyjamas, stopping right in front of Harry. He handed Harry the invisibility cloak.  
  
"They're going to let you stay! I don't know if they believe you but they said they'd let you stay for a bit. Maybe a few days. Here mate, I nicked this from right under Mum's nose! That cloak is great!." He handed Harry a chocolate biscuit then jumped into the armchair with Charlie and passed a second to his brother as Harry let out a sigh of relief. Charlie grabbed the biscuit eagerly.   
  
"Do you think I can ride the broom tomorrow? That was the deal right?"  
  
"Yeah. Thanks," said Harry.  
  
Charlie's mouth fell open in disappointment.  
  
Harry folded the cloak and slipped it into his pocket wondering if letting Bill in on the it's secret had been a good idea. He'd desperately wanted to know what the Weasley's were discussing, but hadn't wanted to spy himself. Being caught spying after turning up in their fireplace without an invitation would have been disastrous. He was in enough trouble as it was.  
  
Eight year old Bill had been fascinated with James's broom, apparently it really was the best that money could buy, so Harry had used it to his advantage, bribing the kid into doing his dirty work for him. Bill had been more than happy to oblige.  
  
Molly and Arthur stepped into the room, Molly bustling up to Harry while Arthur hung back giving his son's a suspicious yet amused look as they munched on their biscuits.  
  
"Harry, we've decided to let you stay the night. If it's true you have no other place to go we will of course let you stay, but Arthur will contact the ministry in the morning. We'll figure out where you belong in no time. No doubt your parents are worried sick! Are you sure you don't remember anything dear?"  
  
"No. Nothing." Molly looked worried. Harry suspected she didn't believe his story of amnesia. "Do you have to contact the ministry right away Mrs. Weasley? I could just stay here a while. See if I remember anything," he added hopefully. The last thing he needed was for the Ministry to be involved.  
  
"Don't worry lad," Arthur said comfortingly "I'm sure we'll find your family soon. It must be strange not to remember them but trust me, the ministry can help you. It's best you come into work with me tomorrow, see if any of the missing persons reports match your description. It'll be a relief for everyone I'm sure, to find someone rather than lose them to dark wizards for a change."  
  
"Arthur!" Molly glared at her husband then glanced at her sons. Bill and Charlie were listening with rapt attention.   
  
Arthur looked contrite. "Enough of that now. We should all be back in bed I think. It is a bit late. Go on you two."  
  
The last was directed at Bill and Charlie who reluctantly trundled up the stairs to their shared room, Bill giving Harry a wink as he nodded towards James's broom propped up against the stones of the fireplace.  
  
"You'll sleep in here tonight Harry," said Molly kindly. She pointed her wand at the couch and murmured "alluntulus". The couch stretched out into a nicely made bed.  
  
Harry nodded and allowed himself to be tucked in, wondering how he should escape from the Weasleys before being taken to the ministry. He hated to think what sort of havoc he would cause on the timelines there. He would have to sneak out after everyone was asleep. He wished he'd come here with a better story. He realized now he'd been a fool to think they'd just let him stay. They didn't know him. They didn't have any reason to trust him. Of course they were going to turn him over to the ministry.   
  
The lights went out. Harry stared at the ceiling.  
  
………………………………………………………………………..  
  
Sirius stepped from the fireplace into darkness. He stepped aside, to allow Remus to follow, blinking against the dimness. The werewolf stepped out beside him a second later.  
  
Sirius heard Remus sniff twice, then sensed the other wizard raising his wand.  
  
"Impedimenta." Remus whispered.  
  
It was around this moment that Sirius's eyes adjusted to the darkness and he realized that Remus has frozen Harry not two steps from a doorway. The younger wizard had been trying to sneak away.  
  
"No you don't," Sirius whispered.  
  
……………………………………………………………………….  
  
James and Lily walked purposefully down the main street of Hogsmeade.  
  
"I can't believe you just stole a packet of fizzing whizbees."  
  
"I left the money on the counter."  
  
"But would you have left the money if I wasn't with you? You come back to the commonroom with sweets all the time, do you often sneak into the Honeydukes at night? How often do you use that passageway?"  
  
"Not that often."  
  
"It's dangerous you know. You lot sneaking out all the time. What if something happened?"  
  
"What's going to happen? Really? It's a sweet shop!"  
  
"Oh I don't know. It's not as if the magical world is at war. Not as if your family is one of the most prominently outspoken pureblood houses against the dark side. Not as if your best friend's relations wouldn't like to see you dead for converting their flesh and blood to the cause of 'mudbloods and muggle lovers'. You're right. I don't see what's dangerous about leaving the protection of Albus Dumbledore in the dead of night to steal sweets!"  
  
James turned to face her in surprise. She kept her eyes front and continued walking, little puffs of breath forming in the air around her from the cold.  
  
"Hey," he said, reaching out to grip her arm. "I'm fine. Nothing's going to happen to me." He looked into her eyes trying to get her to face him. He'd had no idea she'd been so anxious for him.  
  
She stopped walking, "I just wish you would be more careful," she said softly.  
  
He pulled her toward him, enveloping her with a warm hug. She sank into it gratefully, allowing her lips to brush against his neck.  
  
"It's alright. I am careful. After all I need to live through Hogwarts. How else am I going to join the aurors?"  
  
She made a muffled noise James couldn't interpret.   
  
When they separated she was composed. "So, Fred's house you think."  
  
"Yeah, I wouldn't know where else to look. I don't know who else he would know in this time. We could try checking random hotels and inns I s'pose."  
  
"Did he have money?"  
  
James thought, "I don't think so."  
  
"It's unlikely he'd choose a hotel to stay in then."  
  
"Fred's house it is."  
  
He gripped her hand and they walked together toward the three broomsticks. As they walked he searched her face while she gazed ahead.   
  
She had in the past accused him of bullying, stealing, cheating, and of generally being a pratt, with scorn when they'd been younger, and in good fun once they'd become a couple. Her distress over his more reckless habits tonight though had been something different again. For the first time in almost seven years, James sensed fear in Lily Evans. Fear for him. He shivered in the cold night air.  
  
………………………………………………………….  
  
Hi everyone. Back by popular demand!  
  
Sorry I've taken soooooo long to get myself back into writing mode!!!  
  
Thanks to all who reviewed. Especially those who have been with this story from the beginning about nine months ago. Your patience astounds me!  
  
I'm not going to put individual replies to reviews in this chapter, mainly because I just want to get the chapter up before I fall asleep. I have read them all though and I'll say it again - I love you guys!!  
  
I will make every effort to bring you the next chapter a little sooner.  
  
Cheers,  
  
Whiskey. 


	21. Breakdown and cry

Disclaimer: They're not mine and they never will be :-(  
  
Three cheers for Ms Rowling!!!  
  
...................................................................  
  
"Oh no you don't."   
  
Recognizing the voice as that of his Godfather, Harry cursed himself silently in the darkness, realizing his mistake too late.   
  
How stupid had he been to go running to the Weasley's?! Of course the marauders would look for him here! Fred was the only one of his friends they were aware of. It made perfect sense for them to try the Burrow before even attempting to look elsewhere.  
  
"C'mon we'll get him outside."   
  
Harry tried unsuccessfully to move his limbs and use his voice before being unceremoniously picked up and dragged from the room by Sirius and Remus, who for their part were attempting to keep quiet so as not to reawaken the family sleeping upstairs as they navigated the darkened house.  
  
They were successful for the most part, and managed to find the front door with a minimum of fuss, only one teapot being broken before the awkward trio made it out into the overgrown yard.  
  
Once they were there Remus flicked his wand at Harry "Finite Incantatem".  
  
"Right," said Sirius, all business as Harry regained the use of his limbs, "you want to tell us exactly what you think you're doing running off like this?"  
  
"You wouldn't understand," Harry hissed, suddenly feeling quite angry with Sirius. He understood that Sirius was upset, but really, what right did he have to question Harry in this way. Harry knew what he was doing. He knew leaving the castle had been the right thing to do.  
  
Sirius's expression went cold, then developed into anger, "Oh no? I understand that you're running away. You have a chance to save . . . ."  
  
"Padfoot," Remus interrupted with a hint of warning, "we've found him, let's just get back to Hogwarts."  
  
"No Moony I have something to say," he turned to Harry and began to advance slowly upon the slighter boy, "you have a chance to save James's life." Harry felt the blood drain from his face as he stepped away from his young Godfather. "All you have to do is take it and James gets to live past the age of twenty but instead you're here. Hiding!"  
  
"No," said Harry stupidly, trying to get his thoughts together. How he wanted James to live! "No it's not that simple."  
  
"It is!" Sirius cried in frustration. His eyes were suddenly wild and Harry was reminded irresistibly of the first night they had met. The feral gaze Sirius had turned upon Wormtail. "It is that simple! How can you . . . .! He's your father! How can you just . . ."  
  
"Padfoot shut up!" Remus hissed, glancing toward the Burrow with concern.  
  
There was a light in the kitchen. Someone had woken.  
  
…………………………………………………….   
  
James emerged from the fireplace first, quietly stepping to the side as he did so.   
  
He couldn't see, but listened carefully. Over the years he had learned the value of using senses other than sight, particularly as a stag roaming the forbidden forest. You had to be aware at all times that dark creatures could come at you from any direction and that required learning to trust your nose and ears as well as your eyes.   
  
So did living in a dormitory with three teenaged boys and an invisibility cloak.  
  
There was nothing but the creaking of floorboards.  
  
Lily emerged moments later coughing quietly. James could tell she was trying desperately to keep a fit down. She must have breathed in a few ashes as she'd traveled. He quickly turned to her and cast a silencing charm.  
  
As he couldn't see her and could no longer hear her, he had the odd fleeting impression that he had somehow managed to vanish her with his impulsive charmwork.  
  
He reached out and touched her shoulder to reassure himself that she was still there. Her body was being wracked with coughs, her shoulder shaking under his touch.   
  
Suddenly worried, he threw caution to the wind and lit his wand.   
  
Lily's face was red and she had one hand over her mouth, coughing violently.  
  
James's heart went into his throat, "Are you alright?" he whispered, leading her over to the unmade bed by the fireplace and feeling a sudden urge to pound her on the back in case she was choking.  
  
She sank into the bed and signaled with her free hand that she was alright. Eventually the fit subsided and James removed the charm.  
  
"Thanks," she said. "Do you mind if I sit for a moment? Then we can have a look around."  
  
"Right," he said, moving to sit by her. But before he had completed the move he heard shouting coming from outside.   
  
"Is that….." Lily started.  
  
"Sirius," James confirmed.  
  
"Go," she said, giving him a little push.  
  
"You'll be alright?"  
  
"Yes! Just go. Find out what's wrong."  
  
He quickly fled the room.  
  
…………………………………………………………  
  
"Run!" Remus cried.  
  
The trio ran for the encroaching woods, thankfully hidden from sight before whoever had woken decided to look for them outside.  
  
Remus scanned the yard to be sure no one had come out to search for them.  
  
It was because of this that it took him a few moments to realize Sirius had pushed Harry up against a tree and the two appeared to be having some sort of silent battle of wills.  
  
"Sirius!" Remus cried, rushing over to break it up. "Sirius stop!"  
  
But Sirius didn't budge.  
  
"You'll be responsible," he whispered harshly, "if you don't tell me how to stop it you'll be responsible for James's…"  
  
"Shut up!" Harry screamed suddenly, seeming to lose control completely. He started thrashing within Sirius's grip "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"  
  
Sirius backed off, but his gaze stayed on Harry, no less intense than a moment before.  
  
"Tell me," he said softly.  
  
"Tell you what?!" Harry shrieked, tears spilling down his cheeks.   
  
"Harry you don't have to tell," Remus interjected with what he hoped was a professorly tone. Sirius had gone to far.  
  
Harry ignored him, "Tell you what?!" he shrieked again staring directly at Sirius. "Tell you how they died?! That they were murdered by Voldemort! That they were betrayed by one of their best friends?! That I hear them screaming every time a dementor comes near me!"  
  
"They?" whispered Remus. "So it's not just James it's . . ."  
  
"If you want them back Harry tell us how to save them, you have the power," said Sirius, his voice shaking with fury, "Don't stand there screaming at me when you know you can change it!"  
  
Harry didn't appear to have heard, "What else do you want to know? That you were blamed for their deaths and spent twelve years in Azkaban?! Or maybe you'd like to hear that Peter is a murderer. That he's a servant of Voldemort and did this to me?!" - he pulled up his sleeve to reveal a nasty looking scar running down his forearm.  
  
Remus winced.  
  
Sirius just stared in shock.  
  
"Or best of all, maybe you'd like to hear that we can't do a thing to change it because they died protecting me. They died trying to save me! Voldemort wanted to kill me and there's no way they would have just let him in! They died . . " - he faltered - "they died because they loved me and because of that Voldemort couldn't hurt me. He just did this!" Harry pulled his fringe up to allow them a good view of the distinctive scar. "Then he disappeared. For thirteen years he had to go into hiding because the killing curse backfired on him! Imagine how many people he could've killed in thirteen years! I can't live with that! Not even if it means . . . . . .Dad!"  
  
Remus whirled around to see James standing not three feet from him, pale and swaying, his lit wand limp at his side. He looked as if he would be sick.  
  
"James, how much of that did you . . .?" Remus trailed off realizing that James was not hearing him. He was just staring at Harry  
  
Harry stared back, struck dumb with horror.  
  
Sirius flicked his gaze from one to the other, frozen on the spot and shaking. With anger or horror, Remus couldn't tell.  
  
Then James closed the gap between himself and his son and flung himself upon Harry's thin frame.  
  
Harry gasped as James knocked him back a step with the force of the embrace and began to whisper "I'm sorry," over and over again.  
  
As Remus watched the two boys gripped each other so tightly Remus was sure they were bruising one another. Then slowly they sank to the ground, both shaking with tears as they awkwardly fell onto their knees, neither able to support the other. The night was quiet but for the sobs of the two young men, the fate of a world resting upon their shoulders.  
  
…………………………………………..  
  
A/N  
  
Wow! That chapter's been sitting in my head ever since I began to write this fic. It's half the reason I started writing it in the first place (the other half being the Fred/Sirius angst at the beginning.) So what did you guys think?  
  
As always thanks to ALL the reviewers. I'm very grateful for all the feedback and glad you were all happy that I FINALLY came back! J  
  
Okay, I'm just going to reply to a few people who asked questions this time around. I have read all the reviews, so if I don't reply to you, don't worry, I took in all the feedback, yours included.  
  
Silvercrystal77 - Fred's still in Gryffindor tower, fast asleep. I'll get back to him in the next chapter.  
  
Chainsofblame - Oh! We have a new contender for middle earth! Thankyou very much for that whopper of a review! You also picked out a lot of my own favorite moments to comment on, so thankyou for that too. Johnny Depp is brilliant!  
  
This Parrot has Ceased to be - Sorry to fail in the role most lazy updater J. Thanks as always for the kind review!  
  
Templa Otmena - I just realized that I frequently misspell your name. For this I am very sorry. Hoped you liked the people congregating. I always love a good Lily/James fic. I think they're adorable.  
  
Tariq - There's a slight possibility that Hermione and Ron will make a bit of an appearance later on, but it will probably be in a kind of cameo role, as the rest of this fic will be devoted pretty much to Fred, James and Sirius.   
  
Jeanne 2 - Yay, someone liked Bill and Charlie! I thought I'd get more of a response on them after the earlier debate on how old they should be in this era.  
  
Magic Crystal Rose - The beauty of amnesia is that you don't have to explain where you got it from because you don't remember.  
  
Mordred - I had mixed feeling about the amnesia myself so I'll take that critisism. I love L/J stories. So I'm glad people seem to be responding well to this one.  
  
Alana - Yep Sirius went to the Burrow.  
  
Musicgirl141 - Yep Harry was at the Burrow. Sirius and Remus followed him there, arriving just at the moment Harry chose to run away. That's when Sirius froze Harry.  
  
Before I sign out for the chapter can I just say that the new Spiderman movie rocks. Tobey Macguire plays Peter Parker in such an adorable way!  
  
Okay, done now.  
  
Cheers guys,  
  
Whiskey. 


	22. Wake up Fred

Disclaimer: They're not mine and they never will be :-(  
  
Three cheers for Ms Rowling!!!  
  
...................................................................  
  
Fred woke.  
  
For a moment he had trouble remembering where he was. Panic struck him. The darkness around his bed was oppressive in a way he had never experienced before.  
  
He heard someone turning over in their sleep nearby. George. Fred was comforted by the presence of his twin. Especially since he had been separated from him for so long. It was good to back at The Burrow.  
  
On second thoughts this wasn't The Burrow. This was Grimmald Place.   
  
Fred wondered what had made him think of The Burrow. He hadn't lived there since he was a small child. Since his parents had joined the order. Strange.  
  
He sat up and shook his head trying to clear it. He'd had the strangest dream. Something about meeting members of the order as Hogwarts students. Something about fighting with Sirius. Something about James and Lily being a couple.  
  
He snorted softly at the ridiculous thought. Those two couldn't hate each other more if they were on opposite sides of the war.  
  
On the other hand they did have a son. Wait. Son? No that wasn't right. James and Lily didn't have a son.  
  
And come to think of it, he, Fred, had never been separated from George. Why was he so glad to hear him in the next bed? He'd seen him at dinner the previous night. A loud raucous affair with many members of the order present, including the elder Weasley brothers. It had been a good night. One of few good nights in these dark times. Molly had come close to tears at the sight of her six sons together after seven years of not being able to gather them all into the same house long enough for a meal.   
  
Fred reflected that she had become quite dependant on her sons since Arthur's death. Dependant and also terribly over protective. Fred was fairly certain Ron and Percy had not been to any location that was not Hogwarts, Grimmald Place or the ministry in the last three years.  
  
"Too dangerous." "Just think of what happened to your father." "I'd really prefer to know that you were under the protection of aurors."  
  
Fred and George of course had found means of escape to keep themselves from going mad. They were working fairly successfully at corrupting Ron. Not that Ron needed a lot of corrupting these days.  
  
The youngest Weasley sibling had a way of letting his temper rule him. Letters were sent to Molly on nearly a weekly basis while he was at school concerning the fights he started and his antisocial behaviour.  
  
Not to mention the howler about the flying car Ron and Harry had flown to . . . .no that wasn't right. Arthur had died right before tinkering with that car. What car?  
  
Fred's breathing quickened as he began to realize that something more than a bad dream was affecting his thinking.  
  
Fearing he might be loosing his mind he hopped out of bed and made his way to the bathroom.  
  
As he walked his head began to ache, and the more it ached the more confused he became. By the time he made it to the sink the pain was so intense he felt as though he would vomit.   
  
He needed to sort himself out right quick.  
  
He gazed blearily at his reflection. Had he always been so pale? No. Only since he had been forced to spend his summers in this dark, richly furnished horror of a house. Ever since his father had died and his mother had insisted her younger children live under the protection of the Order of the Phoenix who had for some time been using the house as its base of operation.  
  
Fred had wished more than once that Sirius had come from a slightly less psychotic family. The house, while full of interesting little dark surprises to keep you on your toes, was for the most part dull and dreary. Fred had often had to fight the feeling that he was wasting his life away in these halls. Hindered from taking his place in wizarding society by the watchful eyes of his mother and lack of financial standing. Fred felt a sting of guilt as he thought, not for the first time, that Arthur might have left them with better means of supporting themselves.  
  
He thought of Arthur as he had been. Kind. Excitable. Bone weary for the last few years of his life. The war had taken its toll on Arthur Weasley.  
  
Fred thought of Arthur shouting at Fred and his twin after they had given magic sweets to Dudley Dursley. Thought of Arthur asking after their flight to Surry in the flying car. Thought of Arthur chatting away to ministry officials at the Quidditch World Cup. Thought of Arthur giving Ron the highly embarrassing 'how to deal with girls' talk while the twins listened in. Ron had been thirteen.  
  
But Ron had only been twelve when Arthur was lost.  
  
Fred felt like punching something as he felt those memories fading. He wanted so much to hold onto his father.  
  
He reached out with his mind for the happier times. Where they still lived at the Burrow. Where Ron had friends. Where Fred had a little sister. Where Lupin was still alive. Where James and Lily had a son. Where . . . . . .. .  
  
Fred felt as though his head was being split in two, both physically and mentally. The pain was like nothing he'd felt before. It was as if he had lived two lives. As if he was being forced to choose between them. His mind could not accept both versions of reality. Choose, it told him. Choose or go mad.  
  
"I can't" he grated out, his face screwed up in agony as his knees buckled and he fell to the floor.   
  
For one tiny instant Fred felt the pain cease. For a moment everything was clear. He thought of the timeturner. Of Dumbledore's warnings. Of Harry crying on James's shoulder.  
  
He whispered, "Harry what have you done?"  
  
Then all went dark.  
  
……………………………………………………………..  
  
Sirius heard the thump from the kitchen.  
  
"Prongs. Did you hear that?"  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"Did you hear that? Sounded like someone fell over upstairs."  
  
"Maybe one of the twins found some alcohol."  
  
"Maybe Kreacher finally decided to knock one of them off."  
  
James smirked in amusement. Then he thought about it. Sirius had been joking, but as James caught Sirius's eye there was a panicked understanding between them.  
  
"Wouldn't put it past the little bugger."  
  
"Let's go."  
  
They hurried upstairs, not really expecting anything drastic. They checked in on Ron. Sound asleep. Percy, out like a light. Fred and George…….. Fred was missing.  
  
Sirius sighed. "Alright, bathroom check?" he said.  
  
James lead the way and quietly knocked on the door. When no one replied he shoved it open, a move he instantly regretted as the door bounced against Fred's unconscious head.  
  
The boy was lying on the cold stone floor in his pyjamas, blood pouring from his ears and nose. His eyes were closed.  
  
Sirius's first panicked thought, even as he bent down to feel the boy's pulse, was that Molly would murder him if one of her sons were found dead on his watch.  
  
"Is he..?" asked James.  
  
"He's alive," said Sirius, relieved. "We need to get him to St. Mungos."  
  
James nodded and bent down to lift the teenager bodily from the floor. Fred's head rolled back disturbingly.  
  
Sirius opened doors for them, leading the way down to the fireplace connected to the floo network for emergencies only.  
  
A minute later James and Fred were gone, leaving Sirius to the thankless task of breaking the news to the boy's family.  
  
……………………………….  
  
A/N  
  
Hahahahahahahaha. How's that for leaving you all in the dark? Why's everything changed? Who changed what? Wait and see.  
  
Do you all get exactly what happened to Fred or was it unclear?  
  
Thanks to all reviewers!  
  
PrincessofBarzel - Thanks, hope this chapter lived up to expectation. Hope your holiday was good. I'll tell you what though, I'm jealous of all you people having Summers right now. I'm freezing my ass off down here! It's the middle of winter!  
  
Silvercrystal77 - Sorry, left Lily in the dark. J hehe  
  
Katyana - Don't worry I intend to finish if it kills me. I have the chapters planned out and everything.  
  
Kristie - I figured Sirius would be more concerned with losing his best friend than with coddling the Godson who willing to let him die. He's not perfect.  
  
Stahducky - They never even got to take the potion, everything went too wonky for that. And James heard all!  
  
Gaul - Yeah I thought it was complex enough without taking Fred to the Burrow.  
  
Tapdancing Parakeet - They never got to the potion. All will become clear soon.  
  
Templa Otmena - Oohh I like that interpretation! I'd like to say I did it on purpose, but no. Still no Wormtail. Probably no Wormtail for a while actually. Glad you liked the James/Harry scene. Like I said it was the major reason I started this fic in the first place.  
  
Friends 16-uk - The prophecy is still their. People have wrongly assumed that it refers to Neville. Nope, no self fulfilling stuff with Wormtail. He would have turned evil without Fred.  
  
Bosworth - Sorry, no Harry/Lily angst in this one. Some James/Lily coming up though.  
  
And thanks to all else who reviewed!!!  
  
Cheers,  
  
Whiskey. 


	23. I remember you

Disclaimer: They're not mine and they never will be :-(  
  
Three cheers for Ms Rowling!!!  
  
...................................................................  
  
"He looks better. What've they given him?"  
  
"Some sort of mind expansion potion. I didn't really understand it."  
  
Bill glanced at Charlie in surprise. "Mind expansion? Do they know what happened to him?"  
  
"No. I don't think they've ever seen a case like this before. That healer was really put out by it. The way he explained it, it was like Fred's memories just expanded and he couldn't handle it. Like someone performed a reverse memory charm or something."  
  
"Geez. So it's something serious. I thought he might have been mucking around with one of those skiving snackboxes they were working on. They had one for nose bleeds you know."  
  
"Yeah, George showed me last night."  
  
"How's Mum taking it?"  
  
"How'd'you think?"  
  
"That bad huh?"  
  
"She's off talking to the healer right now. How are the squirts?"  
  
"They're with James and Sirius. I don't think Ron was too impressed with being left behind though."  
  
"Did he chuck a mental?"  
  
"Not this time. It was coming though. He might have been holding it back until George was out of there."  
  
They both looked at George. He was seated across the other side of the healer's room, by Fred's bedside, just staring at his twin. His expression was somewhere between grief and confusion. As Bill and Charlie watched, George tentatively reached out to touch Fred's hand, but quickly flinched back before making contact. Fred's face was deathly white.  
  
"I'll go," said Bill.   
  
Charlie nodded and hung back as Bill approached George.  
  
"You think he looks bad now you should have seen him before," said Bill conspiratorially.  
  
George snorted, not taking his eyes from Fred. "What the hell'd he look like before?"  
  
"Oh you know. Blood, guts, bones, fur, lipstick."  
  
George snorted again.  
  
"Seriously he does look better. Whatever the healers did it appears to be working."  
  
"It better. Mum's gonna pop her lid if another one of us…." he broke off the sentence. Bill understood that George was unwilling to jinx the situation by actually mentioning Arthur's untimely end.  
  
"I don't think it's as bad as it looks," he said reassuringly. "From what Charlie told me the healers have saved him from the worst of it. Something about mind expansion. Who knows, maybe he'll wake up and be intelligent."  
  
"Yeah, he was lacking in that area."  
  
"Mmm."  
  
"I DON'T CARE WHO YOU HAVE TO WAKE UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!! I WANT TO KNOW WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY SON!!! HOW COULD THIS HAVE HAPPENED?! HE'S BEEN PERFECTLY WELL UNTILL TONIGHT!!"  
  
The three brothers turned to the direction their mother's voice was coming from.  
  
"How far down the hall you reckon she is?" asked Bill.  
  
"Oh I'd estimate a hundred and fifty meters." said George.  
  
"Two hundred," said Charlie, "Her projection's improved over the last year."  
  
"THERE WAS NO ONE IN THE HOUSE WHO COULD HAVE WANTED TO HURT HIM!! ARE YOU ACCUSING ME OF BEING A BAD MOTHER?!"  
  
Bill glanced quickly at Charlie, who nodded slightly, then headed out to break up the escalating conflict in the hall.  
  
"LET ME TELL YOU, YOU HAVE NO IDEA ABOUT . . . ." Molly broke off as she spotted Bill strolling toward her. "Oh Bill! Bill! Did you bring George dear? Is he here?"  
  
She quite suddenly looked very vulnerable and Bill's heart went out to her. He quickly reached her and put his arms around her. "I brought him, he's in with Fred."   
  
"Good. Good. The healers say we should keep them together at a time like . . . a time like this." She promptly broke into tears against Bill's robes.  
  
Bill motioned for the distressed healer she had been abusing to go about his way. The healer nodded gratefully and hurried off.  
  
"Oh how is he Bill? George I mean."  
  
"He's doing okay."  
  
Molly broke apart from Bill and pulled herself together.  
  
"Well I'd better go and see him."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Molly wiped the tears from her face, raised her chin and began to stride down toward Fred's room.  
  
Before she reached it however Charlie came hurtling out shouting "He's awake! Mum! Bill! Quick! He's woken up!"  
  
Bill and Molly were at Fred's bedside within seconds.  
  
George was grinning, "Welcome back to the living," he was saying.  
  
"Good to be back," said Fred croakily, "How long was I out for?" He was trying to push himself up into a sitting position while shaking his head as if to clear it. George helped him to sit up.  
  
"Only a few hours, you had us all worried."  
  
Fred looked about blearily. "Where's Dad?"  
  
Molly and Bill exchanged a worried look.  
  
"He's gone Fred. You remember," said Charlie firmly.   
  
Fred turned to stare at him. "Remember," he said softly. "Yeah. I do."  
  
"Can we get you anything Fred dear? Water? A healer? Charlie go fetch that healer I was just speaking with will you. He should know Fred's woken up."  
  
Charlie nodded, gave Fred a small smile and left the room.  
  
"So what happened?" asked George eagerly. "What did you do to yourself?"  
  
"I fell," said Fred.  
  
"Well yeah, but why?"  
  
They looked at Fred expectantly. He looked from one to the next, studying each one carefully.  
  
"There is something you can get me," he said to Molly, "I need to talk with James and Sirius."  
  
"First tell us what happened," said George, put out by this unexpected request.  
  
"No I need to talk them. Now," said Fred firmly, sitting up straight in his bed.  
  
The look on Fred's face was one that Bill didn't recognize. Looking from one twin to the other it struck him that Fred somehow looked older. He wondered what effect the mind expansion potion would have had on Fred's personality over the last few hours as he slept. It had been related to memory. What did Fred remember?  
  
"I'll go fetch them." Bill said.  
  
"Thanks," said Fred relaxing against the pillows again, looking drained.  
  
Bill rose and apparated away.  
  
……………………………………………………….  
  
"The kid's got guts I'll give him that."  
  
"How's your eye?"  
  
"I don't think it's going to swell up or anything. It's nothing."  
  
"Didn't look like nothing when his fist was greeting your face."  
  
"Prongs I'm an Auror. I've handled worse than angry fifteen year olds."  
  
"That one's a worry though. I think we need to watch him."  
  
"His brother was just taken to St. Mungos and he was stuck here helpless. How would you feel? I seem to remember you putting your fist through a thick glass pane window when they wouldn't let you see Moony after all that business."  
  
"That was different. Back again Bill?"  
  
Bill had just entered the Grimmald Place sitting room to find James and Sirius sitting side by side by the fireplace, Sirius gingerly touching his eye.  
  
"Yeah. "  
  
"How is he?" asked James, concerned. "Do you want me get Ron and Percy?"  
  
Bill shook his head. "He woke up a few minutes ago."  
  
James was surprised. "Woke up? That's great. The way he looked I was sure he'd be out for weeks."  
  
"Yeah. The healers gave him a potion. Some sort of mind expansion thing. It seemed to work. He was a bit weird when he woke though. He wanted to speak to you two. I'll stay with the squirts if you two get to St. Mungos. Find out what this is all about."  
  
"Sure," said Sirius, looking slightly confused. James knew why. Fred had never been particularly close to Sirius or James. Not like Bill and Charlie, and with good reason.  
  
James and Sirius had never forgotten Fred. Or Harry for that matter.  
  
They knew the timelines had been changed. Knew that this Fred would most likely never travel back in time to become the Fred that they remembered. But he was still Fred, and they had never been entirely comfortable with him.  
  
"Sure, we'll go right away if you think we can help."  
  
They rose and headed to the fireplace, promptly disappearing one after the other.  
  
……………………………………….  
  
A minute later they were back in Fred's room.  
  
It was filled with four Weasleys and an odd sort of energy that the two marauders had trouble identifying. An awkwardness. As if something had been said or done to make everybody slightly uncomfortable and no one was really sure of what it was they should say.  
  
Charlie looked almost relieved to see them.  
  
"Good you're here. C'mon Mum."  
  
"He tried to lead Molly out of the room."  
  
"I'm staying with him," she argued in a tone that seemed to brook no argument.  
  
"No. Let's go, he wants to talk to them on their own," said George.  
  
As the two brothers lead their mother from the room Molly gave Sirius and James a suspicious look.  
  
James felt indignant. What had they done? They hadn't even spoken since entering the room.  
  
He turned his attention to Fred.  
  
"Well you look a sight better than earlier," he said.  
  
"We thought we'd be mourning you at your funeral for sure," Sirius added.  
  
"No such luck," said Fred with a small smile.  
  
"So you wanted to talk to us mate," said Sirius, taking George's chair and leaning back in it.  
  
"Yeah," said Fred, "I just wanted you know that I remember. I remember it all."  
  
"Remember all what?" asked Sirius in confusion.  
  
But James understood immediately.  
  
His stomach hit the floor.  
  
"You remember Harry," he said.  
  
…………………………………………..  
  
Okay, first, for everybody who was confused, I've been told that it helps to go back three of four chapters just to remind yourself of where everybody is at before reading chapter 23.   
  
For those of you who are REALLY confused. It is real. The timelines have been changed. Fred is not having a nightmare. I refuse to write a fanfiction where someone wakes up and it was all a dream.  
  
Kudos to everyone who got it first time round!  
  
Erica - Thanx, it's nice to be compared to your fave writers.  
  
KrondorsAngel - What was your question? It seemed more like a good insight to me. ??  
  
Templa Otmena - Great cost. The moral of the story - never assume you understand why things happen the way they do. Stuff just happens, and you may never know why, deal with it. I love the MPP stuff too. They're some of the best fictional characters ever created, not just by JK, who barely delves into the dynamic at all in the books, but by a collective bunch of fans who have created monsters.  
  
This parrot has ceased to be - Why does your name have to be so long? Never fear, quite a few chapters to go yet. Glad you liked 22. It's by far my favorite chapter to date. J  
  
Roonblah - You knew I was evil.  
  
Ness Lupin - Sorry I killed your boyfriend. I'll make it up to you I promise.  
  
Crazylittlebumblebee - Thankyou. The episodes are going to air right now. It's kind of bizarre actually.  
  
Duskrider O - I liked that line two.  
  
Gaul1 - Er, Harry's gone, so his scar has gone with him.  
  
Tapdancing Parakeet - Close on some points off on others. Remember it may not have been Harry or Fred who decided to change things, it could have been anyone who knew the truth about the future. Also, Lily never knew all the facts as James held quite a bit back from her and she was not present when Harry had his outburst. Hope that helps, I'm giving anything else away.  
  
PrincessofBarzel - Lily and James will be explained soon as will the identities of those who altered the timelines. Dumbledore couldn't change what had been done to the timelines because it was changed to the extent that Harry and Fred never came back in time at all, so they couldn't drink the potion that was supposed to reverse any changes. Fred remembers because he was in the past when the future was changed. His other memories stayed in tact because he was outside of the changes in a way. As for warm weather, I live in Melbourne! Not the sunny Gold Coast! It's four seasons in a day here all year round! Feel sympathy for me!! J  
  
Ceeti - Oh come on, you gotta love a good cliffie!  
  
Angelwings - Yes. His brain was melting from all the thinking. Melting! Melting!  
  
Katya - Hope yougot to work on time. J  
  
Larka - I might go back and fix the typos later.  
  
Riley - Harry changed the timeline with his outburst in the forest. It wasn't something he intended to do, but once it was done it was too much for the potion to reverse. As for memory charms, I don't think any of the marauders would have allowed themselves to go under them. Besides, they're illegal. Harry's birth kind of required a s exual act between James and Lily. One which didn't occur in this timeline because they hate each other. No it's not a dream.  
  
Until next time,  
  
Cheers,  
  
Whiskey. 


	24. What did you do?

Disclaimer: They're not mine and they never will be :-(  
  
Three cheers for Ms Rowling!!!  
  
...................................................................  
  
Previously in Meetings of Marauders:  
  
"Yeah," said Fred, "I just wanted you know that I remember. I remember it all."  
  
"Remember all what?" asked Sirius in confusion.  
  
But James understood immediately.  
  
His stomach hit the floor.  
  
"You remember Harry," he said.  
  
………………………………………………  
  
"Yeah," said Fred softly.   
  
Sirius sat up very straight. If he'd been in dog form his ears would have pricked up. "Say what?"  
  
"I remember everything. Going back in time. Meeting you guys at Hogwarts. The world like it was before everything got changed. What I don't know is HOW it got changed. I mean we were being careful. Harry and I both went to bed. I fell asleep and the next thing I know I'm at Grimmald Place and my Dad's dead, so what the hell happened?!"  
  
"Wait a minute," said Sirius shaking his head, "What do you mean you remember?"  
  
"I mean I remember all of it,"  
  
There was a long silence as Sirius let this sink in. Long buried memories of his last year at Hogwarts came bubbling to the surface of his mind.  
  
"But, but everything got changed." Sirius shook his head in confusion, "You got changed. You never remembered before, why now? I mean all that happened years ago."  
  
Sirius glanced sideways at James who looked stricken.  
  
"Because this was the date he was supposed to go back Padfoot," said James. "Look at him, he's the right age." He turned to Fred, "Arthur was still alive? I mean he wasn't supposed to be killed by the death eaters?" he asked softly.  
  
"Dad was alive, yeah," said Fred aggressively, "So was Neville Longbottom, you know that kid that was killed because of that prophesy? Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange are supposed to be in Azkaban. Lupin is supposed to be alive! Harry and Ginny are supposed to exist. What happened?"  
  
"Moony would have lived?" Sirius asked sharply.  
  
"Yes, he would have lived. He wouldn't have been involved in that whole undercover thing. He wouldn't have been tortured to death…"  
  
"Stop!" cried James, his face white as paper.  
  
"What happened?!" Fred demanded.  
  
Sirius glanced at James once more before running a shaking hand through his hair. "We're not exactly sure Fred, calm down a second. Let us think."  
  
"I know it wasn't me. So it must have been Harry. Harry must have done or said something that changed things. Did he do something to Pettigrew? What?"  
  
"No, Peter's fine, he's working for the ministry," said James, not meeting Fred's eyes.  
  
"Why haven't I met him in this version of things? I don't know him at all."  
  
"He's …well, he kind of went his separate way after Hogwarts didn't he. We were kind of cold to him after…well, after we found out what he was going to do. Didn't even get the chance to do it in the end did he?" said Sirius, looking at James again.  
  
James shook his head.  
  
"How did you know what he was going to do? Did Harry tell you? When?"  
  
Sirius once again glanced at James, looking for some sort of indication that they were in this together, that James was just as confused by this as Sirius was. James's eyes were unfocused and moving about rapidly, as though he couldn't collect his horrified thoughts. Sirius noted the strangeness of this then turned to Fred and sighed.   
  
"Look it was a long time ago Fred, it's hard to remember. I mean think about it. Two kids turn up out of nowhere and Dumbledore tells us their from the future. After you disappeared things just went back to normal. Almost like you'd never been there. I mean for a while we tried to piece together how we'd changed things, but sometimes it seemed like your being there at all was just a dream, and we didn't know enough about the future to know what had been changed."  
  
"You knew Harry existed. Why did that change? What happened after I went to sleep. I need to know what you did!"  
  
James winced.  
  
"Alright let me think!" said Sirius, "Alright um, alright. After you went to sleep, Harry decided to leave the castle. He left a note. He um, well he thought it would be best if he just left so he couldn't change the timelines. But when we figured out he'd gone we went after him. Found him over at yours, sneaking out of the house for some reason," he looked at James again. James just nodded, eyes now downcast, "Well anyway, we um, well we.."  
  
"What? Brought him back to the castle?"  
  
"Yeah. But before that. Before that…"  
  
"Sirius flipped," James interjected.  
  
"Well I thought you were going to die!" Sirius snapped.  
  
"Sorry," James murmured.  
  
"Anyway," Sirius continued reluctantly, "I wanted to know how it happened. How to save James, and Harry, well Harry just kind of snapped."  
  
"Snapped?"  
  
"Blurted it all out. About Wormtail, James and Lily, Voldemort disappearing. Why he didn't want to change it."  
  
Fred nodded. "But what then? One of you must have changed something. One of you must have done something to change it."  
  
James's face was a barely controlled mask. His teeth clenched.  
  
Fred watched him for a second, "What did you do?"  
  
"We're not sure," Sirius interjected. "We came back to the castle and went to bed, and in the morning you weren't there. Either of you. You just disappeared. We've known for years that one of us must have done something. I mean nothing happened the way Harry said it would. But we've never known what. What could we have done while we were sleeping that night?"  
  
Suddenly James stood and left the room.  
  
"Prongs!" cried Sirius, and stood to follow. "We'll talk again soon," he said to Fred before running after his friend.  
  
Fred collapsed back on his pillows, furious with both of them.  
  
……………………………………………………  
  
After ten of minutes of searching, Sirius found James in a large store cupboard on the same floor as Fred's room.  
  
The room was large enough for the two men to sit comfortably across from each other. Sirius took a seat and waited for his friend to speak.  
  
James's eyes were moist. He appeared to be putting a great deal of effort into keeping the tears from falling. So much so that he was paralyzed by the task. Eventually he pulled himself together enough to speak.  
  
"It was me Sirius."  
  
"I know."  
  
"Yeah? Since when?"  
  
"Since you broke up with Lily at the age of eighteen you dolt! You think I didn't guess why you did it?"  
  
James let the first of the tears fall. "Do you think Moony knew?"  
  
"I don't know. We never talked about it. You couldn't have known he was going to die James. There was no way you could have . . ."  
  
"I knew someone would die. I knew Voldemort was going to have a longer life."  
  
"James,"  
  
"I'm so sorry!" James blurted out, and the tears began to fall in earnest.  
  
Sirius wrapped his arms around his friend, unsure of what to do now. He wasn't angry at James for doing what he had done. He had done it out of love. Sirius knew had their positions been reversed he probably would have made the same decision.   
  
"I could've died," James whispered, "If it had just been me I could have gone through with it."  
  
"You wanted to save Lily," said Sirius, "I get it James, I get what you did."  
  
"Not just Lily. You. I couldn't let you go to Azkaban Padfoot."  
  
Sirius let his eyes fall closed and hugged his friend tighter.  
  
"I'm sorry," James repeated.  
  
They stayed like that for an hour.  
  
……………………………………………………………………….  
  
Okay, while the last thing I want to do is insult the intelligence of my faithful reviewers, I have to say that I was quite surprised by the number of people who still didn't get what had happened after chapter 23.  
  
I know that I have given enough info and hints in the fic to explain what is going on, because quite a few of you did catch on, including my friend from Uni who not only guessed what had happened but figured out that it was James who had changed it all before this chapter was even written.  
  
Basically, this is what you should know at this stage.  
  
Fred has been thrown forward in time, to his own time in fact, where everything has changed due to Harry's outburst in the forest outside the burrow.  
  
Things we know have changed  
  
1.James broke up with Lily before they had a chance to get married and Harry was never born.  
  
2.Because Harry was never born the war with Voldemort continued on past the point it should have and Remus and Arthur were both killed in the war effort.  
  
3.Ron is now an angry loner with no friends.  
  
4.The prophesy that was supposed to be about Harry was assumed to be about Neville, so Neville was the one who was killed that night, not James and lily.  
  
5.Molly and Arthur decided against bringing yet another child into such a war torn world, so Ginny was never born.  
  
6.The marauders found subtle ways of blowing Wormtail off until he went away and found some new, less outspoken friends, who had no secrets worth Voldemort's attention, so he never became a spy.  
  
7.Fred has memories of both versions of reality and his head nearly exploded because of it.  
  
For those who got the plot, but questioned the logic:  
  
The time paradox - There are many different theories on how time travel might work. I am subscribing to a combination of the theories laid out in the Back to the Future trilogy and The Butterfly Effect. (If you haven't seen these films I recommend them highly.) I, or Dumbledore, will go into more detail on my theory later in the fic. The paradoxical nature of Harry's presence in the past preventing his own birth will be brought up and dealt with. Hopefully to your satisfaction.  
  
ok - hope you like the especially long A/N on this chapter.  
  
Templa - I can't believe how much your last review sounded like a review that I would write. I'm doing Philosophy at Uni right now and I too love Back to the Future. James's reaction was interesting. Glad you picked that up. I've had a brief look at BreiflyDel but the writer that really blew me away was JKLB. She got a really good handle on who these characters are. Especially in "Choosing the head boy", which is unfinished, but a great read.  
  
Ceeti - Relax, I won't leave it like this. There's hope for these characters yet.  
  
KrondorsAngel - Are you a fan of Raymond E Feist? The time paradox will be dealt with soon.  
  
Tekyah Ariel - Yay! Somebody liked the mind expansion idea!  
  
Parrot - All shall be explained in good time.  
  
Mordred - I love chapter 22 too!! It was my favorite to write. As far as Ron goes, I kind of figured he could have turned aggressive for a couple of reasons. 1. He does have a temper, he had it even before he was friends with Harry. He would have punched Malfoy on that first train ride if Scabbers hadn't bitten Goyle first. There have been a few scenes in which either Harry or Hermione have had to hold a furious Ron back from getting into a fight. 2. I figure Ginny and Ron survived having Fred and George for older brothers because they got through it together. Without Ginny around it would just have been Ron having the tricks and pranks pulled on him. I reckon it got to him. Not that the twins actually meant any harm. 3. Growing up in a world at war has got to have detrimental effects on your personality.  
  
Creature of the Black Lagoon - I think it's bungee.  
  
Cheers,  
  
Whiskey 


	25. If only you didn't hate me

Disclaimer: They're not mine and they never will be :-(  
  
Three cheers for Ms Rowling!!!  
  
...................................................................  
  
Lily was taking on the fairly boring task of folding her laundry. Underwear and towels.   
  
She chose to do this in the muggle way. It kept her hands busy while her mind was elsewhere. On young Fred Weasley in fact.  
  
After sending James and Sirius to St Mungos, Bill had done the rounds, letting members of the Order know what had happened. Unsure of whether or not his brother's condition was related to dark forces or simply the result of a bad experiment, he had thought it best to give the right people a heads up. After visiting Lily he had gone on to Hogwarts to let Dumbledore know what had happened.  
  
Lily had been left with an uncomfortable feeling in her stomach. Fred's condition sounded serious, even if it was the result of a gimmick gone bad.  
  
As was often the case when a friend or loved one was ill, unbidden thoughts came to her mind of how she might feel if worst came to worst and Fred's condition proved to be fatal. She thought about how she might remember him if never given the chance to see him again.  
  
While the thought of losing Fred was dreadful to her, the memories he had given her over the last few years were nothing short of charming.  
  
The thought of the twins at their mischievous work made her smile. She was well known for being fond of the terrible twosome, and they in turn were quite fond of her, for their part never making her the butt of their jokes or the victim of their pranks. She had long suspected they might be slightly infatuated with her. A harmless crush that she discouraged, but enjoyed nevertheless. She had always had a weakness for mischievous young men.  
  
And on the subject of mischievous young men, one she would rather have avoided had just apparated into her loungeroom.  
  
James looked around quickly before spotting her on the couch.  
  
"Lily," he said, in a voice so low and husky she might have interpreted it as flirtation had she not noticed the redness of his eyes.  
  
"What are you doing here?" she asked evenly.  
  
"I needed to see you," he stated quietly.  
  
His tone suggested it was a personal need. A need for solace or comfort perhaps. It tugged on her memory. Of the only time in her life she had ever truly been in love. Memory of rejection and the horror of realizing that love had been unrequited followed fast, and she quickly got to her feet, disliking the way he towered over her while he was standing.  
  
It occurred to her that the reason for his visit might be related to Fred's condition. Of course, she berated herself, James was here to deliver bad news on behalf of the Order, not another blow to her heart. Fear gripped her as she wondered what could have happened.  
  
"Why? Is it Fred? Is he alright? Bill came here. He told me…"  
  
"He's okay," James interrupted, "He's woken up actually,"  
  
"Well that's great!" she exclaimed, slightly confused. James's manner suggested tragedy, not hope. "Molly must be relieved. I imagine she was quite distressed by all of this."  
  
James nodded without looking at her, then collapsed onto her couch, his elbows coming to rest on his knees.  
  
Put out that the man she had made a point of avoiding wherever possible for the last fifteen years was now making himself comfortable in her home, Lily glared at him before saying sarcastically, "Tea Potter? A biscuit maybe?"  
  
"No thanks," he replied, not noticing her tone.  
  
She rolled her eyes and took the seat beside him, careful not to let their bodies touch in any way. He'd obviously come here to say something and would be impossible to get rid of until he had done so. She knew him well enough to understand that much.  
  
He stared ahead.  
  
"Do you ever . . . ." he cut himself off.  
  
"What?" she asked impatiently.  
  
He looked her in the eye and her body tingled. A mixture of attraction and hate that she was instantly ashamed of. She looked away.  
  
"Do you ever wonder what it would have been like if we'd stayed together?"  
  
Her head snapped back to face him and she stared at him in disbelief.  
  
"Are you joking?"  
  
He shook his head, appearing quite vulnerable as he waited for a further reply.  
  
She put her face close to his. So close she could feel his breath. "No," she lied firmly. "I don't."   
  
She withdrew from his personal space as his eyes fell closed. Was that pain she saw crossing his face? Whatever it was it made her angry.  
  
"What is this? Some sort of early mid life crisis? You're feeling lonely and you're wondering if the gullible high school girlfriend will take you back? She fell for the fake charms once, she'll fall for them again. Is that what this is?"  
  
"No," he whispered, almost inaudibly.   
  
"What then?" she demanded.  
  
He met her gaze and held it for what seemed like an eternity, searching her face for something. When the answer finally came it surprised her.  
  
"It wasn't fake."  
  
She snorted, "Oh no? Explain to me then why you so suddenly left me after we slept together for the first time. Was it not good enough for you? Or were you just letting me go so that you could move on to the next conquest? Mark that one off the list, on to the next. What were your words exactly? 'Too young to be tied down'? 'Need to see other people'? You told me you wanted to be married! Don't try to tell me that wasn't fake!"  
  
Anger filled her as she spoke and the harsh memories came flooding back into her mind  
  
He shifted uncomfortably under the onslaught. Good, she thought. Hit the nail on the head. Let him squirm.   
  
"You should go," she said harshly.  
  
He didn't budge.  
  
"Go!" she said again, afraid of what she might say or do if he stayed any longer. She knew he was her weakness, no matter how much he had hurt her.  
  
"There were no others Lil," he said softly, "Never. Just you."  
  
"There were others . . ."  
  
"Name one since you," he challenged.  
  
That stumped her. She opened her mouth to reply before she realized it though. What was happening? Why was James here. He had spent the last fifteen years finding subtle, and some not so subtle, way of letting her know just how little she meant to him. What was he playing at now?  
  
"What do you want?" she asked weakly. "What is this? Are you trying to convince me to sleep with you?"  
  
She winced at her own words, recognizing them for what the were. She had just voiced one of her own most secret desires - for James to come crawling back to her, unable to keep her at arms length any longer.  
  
It was a desire she kept hidden, even from herself, to maintain her protective coat of righteous anger with her former lover. She hated knowing that even after all these years she couldn't stop wanting him, whilst he'd seemed to have no problems callously pushing her to the side once he'd had enough of the teenage romance.  
  
James did not seem to notice the slip.  
  
"No," he said, still in that unfamiliar soft tone, "I just wanted to see that a decision I made a long time ago was justified."  
  
She didn't have the faintest clue what he was talking about.   
  
"Was it?"  
  
Tears welled up in his eyes. "I don't know." He sounded devastated. "If only you didn't hate me," he added wistfully, longing flaring up in his eyes as he gazed at her.  
  
She felt herself melt. It was a look he had not given her in fifteen years and it had taken her back in time. For one wild moment she thought he was going to kiss her. That was certainly the action that had followed that look in the past.  
  
Instead his hand came up to cradle her cheek. She closed her eyes and leant into it, relief flooding through her every fiber. They were back. James was back.  
  
Thought caught up with action.  
  
Horrified she stood from the couch and moved off into the kitchen where he would not be able to witness her tears.  
  
A minute later she heard the cracking sound as he apparated away.  
  
…………………………………………..  
  
There's one for the tragic romantics.  
  
How'd you all like it?  
  
I'm not going to have individual responses this time round because I'm tired, but I hope this clears things up for those people who were wondering why James and Lily hate each other. The truth is it's all based on confusion and misunderstandings, and some bad handling of the situation on James's part. They're still in love though, have no doubt.  
  
Philosophy came up in one review. I'm currently studying Philosophy and Popular culture, which may sound like a bludge subject, but you wouldn't think that if you had to contribute to the mind benders being discussed in classes.  
  
Okay, last but not least, please no one hate James for how he's treated Lily. He's basically a good guy and he dealt with the situation as best he could. He's not perfect.  
  
Thanx for all the reviews! You guys are fantastic.  
  
I'll post the next one as soon as I can!  
  
Cheers,  
  
Whiskey. 


	26. Getting to the meeting

Disclaimer: They're not mine and they never will be :-(  
  
Three cheers for Ms Rowling!!!  
  
...................................................................  
  
"I need to be at that meeting."  
  
"Don't be stupid you need to stay in bed."  
  
"Don't be a git Ron, I need to get out of here. You need to do something to distract the healers so I can jump ship."  
  
"What? Now?"  
  
"No, when George gets back. He's coming with me. I might need someone to help me get into Dumbledore's office. Give me those clothes."  
  
Ron reluctantly handed over the jeans, jumper and trainers he'd brought at Fred's request. Fred snatched them up, jumped down from the hospital bed, and began to unabashedly strip off his pyjamas.  
  
"Do you mind?" said Ron in disgust, turning his back.  
  
"Nuh," said Fred, pulling on his jeans.  
  
"You shouldn't be going," Ron insisted, "you might faint again. They still haven't figured out what's wrong with you."  
  
"I know what happened," said Fred, tying the laces on his trainers as Ron turned back to face him. "That's why I need to see Dumbledore. Maybe he can fix this mess. James and Sirius are useless."  
  
"If you know what happened why won't you tell us?!" Ron demanded, his voice reaching dangerous volumes.  
  
"Keep your hair on," said Fred, signaling to Ron with his hand to lower his voice.  
  
Ron looked as though he might have said something else, but George chose that moment to come pelting back into the room.  
  
"I held them off as long as I could, they're on their way, coming in to see you, you're dressed, excellent, we have to go now!" He said all of this in a rush, grabbing Fred by the collar and dragging him from the room as he spoke.  
  
Ron followed with a 'what am I getting myself into this time' groan.  
  
The 'them' George had been referring to were Molly, Charlie and Percy. Molly, satisfied that Fred was on his way to healing, had finally allowed Ron and Percy to come visit their brother. The twins had managed to get a message to Ron before he came though, through the use of a very handy 'No Need to Pass the Note' quill they had been working on for 'Weasley's Wizard Wheezes'. The message had been to bring Fred some clothes and his wand.  
  
Ron had hidden the items in his 'Bigger in Than Out' bag and had waited until George had distracted the rest of the family with a trip to the cafeteria before asking Fred why he needed clothes while stuck in hospital.  
  
He had then been informed that Fred's desire for clothing had risen from his discovery that Sirius and James had been summoned from the hospital by Dumbledore for a meeting devoted to discussing Fred's condition.  
  
Fred himself had not been invited. Ron supposed he was considered too sick to be grilled over his illness just yet. He certainly didn't look well. He was pale and appeared exhausted or drained.  
  
Despite this, and the fact that Molly had explicitly refused to allow him to leave the hospital. Fred seemed quite determined to attend the meeting.  
  
Now the three boys were walking, as fast as they dared while trying not to attract attention to themselves, in the direction of the St Mungo's floo networked fireplaces.  
  
Fred grabbed Ron and spoke to him in a low voice, "Alright Ron here's the deal. It's gonna take us a bit to get to Hogwarts."  
  
"We need you to distract the healers," said George.  
  
"The patients," said Fred.  
  
"The security," said George  
  
"The visitors," said Fred.  
  
"The house elves," said George.  
  
"The portraits," said Fred.  
  
"But most importantly," said George.  
  
"Mum," they said together.  
  
"She can't be able to come after us before we've reached the school."  
  
"She must not be given even an almost imagined chance to wonder where we are," said Fred.  
  
"She'd drag us back before we even got to Hogsmeade," said George.  
  
"It would mean the continuation of the world as we know it," said Fred cryptically.  
  
This last comment earned Fred an odd look from George.  
  
Ron however was already stressing over how he should create his distraction. Excessive yelling was his usual method of getting people's attention. He began to look around for a potential target to vent on. Who would be his unwitting acomplis and help him create an attention drawing, ear splitting argument such as St Mungos had never seen.  
  
There she was, over by reception .  
  
George, who had been watching his younger brother consider the situation, followed his gaze to the frizzy haired young witch.  
  
"Hey isn't that…?"  
  
"You guys go I've got this covered,"  
  
Ron strolled over to his classmate with a slightly evil glint in his eye.  
  
"Hey!" he shouted as he went, "SPEW!"  
  
The twins didn't hang around to hear the rest.  
  
……………………………………………………………………….  
  
Sirius waited alone in Dumbledore's office. The headmaster had gone off with Filch to sort out some issue with a cursed bottle of fire whiskey, leaving Sirius alone to wonder how James was faring with Lily.  
  
When the two Marauders had been called to this meeting concerning the meaning and implication of Fred's illness, James had immediately said he'd wanted to bring Lily, prompting Dumbledore to raise his brows in surprise.  
  
Sirius had subtly signaled the old man not to ask questions. Dumbledore, taking the hint from his former student, had simply allowed James leave to find his ex-girlfriend without asking any difficult questions.  
  
James had apparated away looking, to Sirius at least, very unsure of himself and Sirius had followed Dumbledore back to Hogwarts, an uneasy feeling growing in his stomach.  
  
Sirius could not pretend to understand James's reasons for wanting to bring Lily back into this mess. He had given up his dreams in order to spare her from it and it just didn't make sense for James to bring her back into the issue after working so hard for fifteen years to keep her at a distance.  
  
What Sirius did understand was that James was beginning to wonder if he had made the right choice all those years ago, pushing Lily away. He was wavering. The shock of discovering that he may have inadvertently caused the deaths of some of his closest friends had shaken James to his foundation.  
  
The problem was that James was a person who liked to see the world in black and white. Right and wrong. Once he decided that something was the right thing to do, he did it without fear. But now, for the second time in his life, James was faced with a situation where he could not decipher right from wrong. He'd formed some kind of notion in his head that to lessen the evil that had come from his decision to leave Lily, he needed to be honest with her after all this time, and had acted accordingly. But even as his friend had apparated away, Sirius had seen James's resolve flounder.  
  
Sirius pitied James his clear cut morality. It made hard decisions that much more difficult to bear. It made the hatred he had received from Lily over the years that much more difficult to face.  
  
Sirius's own feelings on the matter were confused and contradictory. He had spent the last few hours completely focused on James and what James might be feeling, in part to keep himself from examining his own reaction to Fred's horrifying revelations.  
  
Sitting alone with his thoughts, he was now fighting to keep his mind away from the turmoil he knew would result from closer reflection on his emotions. He could feel his grief for Remus tugging at him was and desperately trying to turn his mind away from the image of his lost friend lying naked and scratched on the floor of the shrieking shack after a full moon. It was the image that had come close to destroying Sirius after he had learned of his friend's death. It reminded him of how vulnerable Remus had been at times, despite the strength of the wolf, and of how Sirius had failed to protect him.  
  
Sirius hoped Dumbledore would be distracted with Filch for a long while. The last thing he wanted to do right now was examine the situation too closely, and he knew the headmaster was about to make him remember all the terrible things that had come out of Fred and Harry's accidental trip back in time.  
  
The door creaked slowly inwards and Sirius waited apprehensively for the headmaster to appear. After what seemed like an eternity though it was not Dumbledore but James who entered the room, alone.  
  
He did not meet Sirius's eye.  
  
"Where is she?"  
  
James sat in the chair closest to Sirius and gazed at his hands.  
  
"I couldn't do it. I couldn't tell her." He brought his hand up to his brow as if his neck was not quite strong enough to support his head. "What did I do to her Sirius?"  
  
Sirius couldn't answer. He didn't know how.  
  
"I mean how could I have hurt her that much? It was exactly what she thought I would do too. You know, before we started going out."  
  
Sirius, still lurching his mind away from the disturbing image if Remus, took a moment to comprehend what James had said. When he finally did understand though he felt something unexpected rise within him. Anger.  
  
"James get a grip!" he said, "Worse things came out of this than the death of your teenage romance!"  
  
James stiffened, and immediately Sirius felt contrite.  
  
"Sorry," said James.  
  
Sirius just looked at the floor.  
  
At that moment the door to the office was flung open so hard it crashed against the bookcase behind it and several old tomes fell to floor in a jumble.  
  
Sirius and James both stared.  
  
It was Fred Weasley who had done the flinging and he was standing in the doorway, red faced and puffing.  
  
He quickly checked behind him as though he thought he may have been followed, then nodding cordially to James and Sirius, closed the door quietly behind himself and took a seat by them, his manner now suggesting that he had been expected.  
  
"What are you doing out of bed?" Sirius demanded, after sharing an exasperated look with James. They should have expected this.  
  
"I can't very well let you have a meeting about me without being here to fill in the details for you now can I," said Fred, "Where's Dumbledore anyway?"  
  
"Off sorting out whatever distraction you put in place to get Filch out of the way so you sneak in here I suspect," said Sirius. "Don't worry he'll be back soon."  
  
Fred nodded.  
  
Five minutes went by in silence before the door opened again, this time to reveal Dumbledore.  
  
The headmaster nodded to himself as he noted Fred's presence, a slight smile gracing his features.  
  
Then he was all business.  
  
"We have much to discuss."  
  
…………………………………………………………………  
  
Hi All!  
  
Hope you all liked the Weasley brothers in this one. I really like writing for them.  
  
The time paradox will be examined in the next chapter, be prepared for it to be dry and lecturey. Well not too dry.  
  
Just to answer a few questions that came up in reviews:  
  
-Lily doesn't have a son.  
-James might tell Lily about Harry or he might not. Not giving it away yet. -Things may never get back to normal. You'll have to wait and see.  
-The time turner can of course be used again. Anyone who has read my earlier responses to reviews should know that one of the marauders is going to be sent back in time at some stage.  
-The mess is very is very messy, it might be hard to solve.  
-Harry will not be born in this version of things. His window was kind of missed.  
-'Bludge subject' means 'subject you choose to do because it won't be much work and you're lazy'. (Is that really an Aussieism? Templa, you've experienced Australia, help me out here)  
-I'm writing this under the assumption that the prophesy was made before the point Harry and Fred arrived at when they accidentally went back in time. This means that the prophesy had to have been told in both versions of history, despite the lack of Harry's presence in one of them, because it was told before the timelines got split.  
-I sincerely hope I will not be thrown off a cliff.  
  
That's all for now folks.  
  
Cheers,  
  
Whiskey. 


	27. So that's how time travel works

Disclaimer: They're not mine and they never will be :-(  
  
Three cheers for Ms Rowling!!!  
  
Warning!! This chapter is long and dry and you might have to read it a couple of times to get the theory. I promise it does make sense.  
  
The headmaster nodded to himself as he noted Fred's presence, a slight smile gracing his features.  
  
Then he was all business.  
  
"We have much to discuss."  
  
…………………………………………………………………  
  
"We do indeed," Sirius said under his breath as Dumbledore took a seat.  
  
"Where do we begin?" James queried.  
  
"The beginning," said Dumbledore, "I believe the beginning is always a very good place to start." He chuckled at some private joke. "Especially since Mr. Weasley has been so kind as to grace us with his presence. I believe we might start with the original timeline. What can you tell us Fred? How have events been different in this timeline from the first reality you remember?"  
  
If anyone was surprised at how informed Dumbledore appeared to be no one showed it. Obviously Dumbledore had seen the connection between Fred's illness and the time traveling incident eighteen years earlier.  
  
Fred hesitated only a millisecond before reeling off everything he could think of, "My Dad was still alive, so was Lupin," James winced, "Harry was born, so was my little sister Ginny. Neville Longbottom was still alive. We didn't live a Grimmald place, at least my family didn't, we were still at the burrow. Ron was different. People liked him a bit. Even that Hermione girl he doesn't like. Sirius was wanted for the murder of twelve muggles and the betrayal of the Potters to You Know Who. The Potters were James and Lily, they were married….and dead. But You Know Who disappeared for years. The war didn't happen like it did here. It was over. You Know Who had only recently returned when George and I got our hands on the time turner."  
  
Fred has said all of this quite quickly and factually, not daring to look at Sirius or James, who had of course already known most of this.  
  
Dumbledore's brows sank toward his nose. He opened his mouth as if to ask for clarification on some fact or another, but quickly closed it again. To Fred it appeared as though Dumbledore were trying to sort through the large amount of information that had just been uploaded onto him.  
  
"Voldemort returned?" he eventually asked. "From where? Where did Voldemort disappear to?"  
  
Fred opened his mouth to answer then stopped. Paused to think. "No one knows really. It was because of Harry though. He tried to kill Harry but couldn't. It was like the spell just kind of backfired and no one ever really knew why. You Know Who disappeared after that. Harry was famous. They called him "The boy who lived.""  
  
"The boy who lived." Dumbledore repeated the words slowly. "Yet he was never allowed to live in this reality."  
  
"Right,"  
  
"And James and Lily…." Dumbledore turned his gaze to James.  
  
"Dead," James confirmed. "That's what Harry said too. The night they disappeared. He said he was an orphan." His gaze was on the floor. Sirius was giving him a sympathetic look.  
  
"Ahh," said Dumbledore, nodding slightly, "I see."  
  
"So how did that change things?" asked Fred, "One of you must have done something differently. When do we go back and fix it?"  
  
Sirius whipped his head around and fixed an angry glare on the teen. "Fix it?! You call letting Lily and James die 'fixing it'. What makes your precious reality any better than this one? The only difference I can see is that the victims are different. Voldemort is still out there. You said yourself he'd managed to return to power even before you went back in time."  
  
"He was gone for fourteen years!" Fred yelled, "There weren't as many dead piled up. Things were bad but not like this!"  
  
"You're only saying that because Arthur's dead," Sirius returned harshly.  
  
Fred turned White.  
  
"Enough!" Dumbledore thundered with enough force to shake the portraits around his office. They scattered out of their frames in fright. "Enough," Dumbledore said again.  
  
James raised his head to face the headmaster, "Is it possible to change it back?" he asked quietly.  
  
"You can't mean.." Sirius began, but cut himself off at a harsh glance from James.  
  
"That depends on your meaning James," Dumbledore replied solemnly. "Can we undo what has been done? No. No one can ever do that."  
  
"But we did," Fred argued, "Harry and I, we changed everything."  
  
"No," said James firmly, "It was me who changed it. It was a mistake and now I need to change it back, just tell me how Professor."  
  
"James," said Sirius softly, "I want Remus and the rest of them to be alive as much as you do, but you can't just give up, you can't…"  
  
"What do you mean it can't be undone?" Fred interrupted, directing the question to Dumbledore.  
  
Dumbledore raised a white brow at Sirius.  
  
"All ears," Sirius said, meaning he wouldn't interrupt.  
  
"Have any of you done any serious research on the topic of time travel?" Dumbledore asked.  
  
"Quite a bit after Fred and Harry disappeared," Sirius answered. "Particularly Remus and me. We wanted to know why they had gone. What would happen to the timeline."  
  
Dumbledore leaned forward in his chair, "Did you happen to discover any volumes on the topic of multiple timelines? The branching effect?"  
  
Sirius looked confused. "It was mentioned briefly in a few chapters. Considered irrelevant by most. We only live in the one timeline no matter how many others exist."  
  
"Yes, yes," Dumbledore muttered, "That was the theory back in the seventies when you undertook that research. You haven't read anything more recent on the topic? The works of Alderdash Squerk?"  
  
Sirius shook his head.  
  
"I never wanted to know about it," James admitted darkly.  
  
"So what's the current theory then?" asked Fred, giving James a look of utter disdain.  
  
"The branching theory Sirius, what do you remember?" Dumbledore prompted.  
  
Sirius shook his head and raised one hand up to his temple, "Branching theory," he said, "alright. For every choice that is made, for every possibility that exists, there also exists a dimension in which those possibilities are realities. As time moves forward more and more realities or dimensions are created. Like the branches of a tree, although the branches do not end. They extend and multiply infinitely. No being can exist in more than one dimension at a time. Beings multiply as dimensions multiply."  
  
James stared at his friend, clearly impressed. "You remembered that from research you did with Remus in the seventies?"  
  
Sirius shrugged, "What can I say? Mind like a steel trap."  
  
"But what has that got to do with time travel?" asked Fred, "We only time travel in the one dimension right? The one timeline."  
  
"We are coming to that now," Dumbledore said, "What time travel theorists have come to believe in modern times is that no timeline, no one dimension can ever really be changed. Once it is created it is created and what is done cannot be undone."  
  
"I don't quite follow," said James, "Our timeline was changed. Harry's birth was undone, it all changed."  
  
"No," said Dumbledore, "I don't believe it did."  
  
"You mean they're all still alive somewhere?" Sirius asked sharply, "Remus, Arthur, Harry. They still exist?"  
  
"In another dimension," Dumbledore confirmed.  
  
"Another branch of the tree," Fred murmured, catching on.  
  
"A branch of the tree which, I believe, ended last night with Fred and Harry's trip back in time."  
  
"Ended?" James queried, "I thought they couldn't end. Isn't that what Sirius said before?"  
  
Sirius nodded, his gaze fixed on Dumbledore.  
  
"Mmm." Dumbledore inclined his head toward Sirius, "Indeed that was the theory eighteen years ago. Modern research provides us with a different theory which I will explain: If change is instigated by time travelers to their own histories a branch may end. Time travelers cannot change the history of their own branch, or shorten it. They must have their histories, their pasts, their personalities in order to become time travelers in the first place, and changing that history would create an unthinkable paradox. In all cases of time travel, timelines will come to a halt, or pause if you will, once the time traveling spell has been cast. The timeline resumes when the time travelers either catch up with the time they left behind, or return to it via a spell, but only if nothing in their own histories has been altered, or, as was the plan with Harry and Fred, the alterations are looped upon themselves with a potion designed to create small temporal folds. If the alterations are not looped, the timeline will remain paused for an eternity. It will end. A new timeline will stem from the original branch at the point from which the alterations were made."  
  
Fred, Sirius and James all stared blankly.  
  
Dumbledore sighed and conjured a blackboard and chalk.  
  
"Here," he said. "This is Harry and Fred's original timeline." He drew a long white line across the board and received understanding nods from his three pupils. "From the end of this timeline Fred and Harry went back in time to this point here." He tapped the board at a point on the line then labeled it "1978". "For the few days that Harry and Fred were with us nothing significant was altered. Nothing that could not have been looped with the potion they were to drink. Not until the exact instant they disappeared from their beds that night. Was that when you made your decision James?"  
  
"It was," said James with no particular inflection.  
  
"Of course," Dumbledore turned back to the board, "In any case it was at that point that a new timeline was created. A new branch of the tree in which Harry was not born and Harry and Fred did not travel back in time." He drew a chalk line to represent the new branch. "When the new branch was created Fred and Harry were immediately absorbed back into their own natural timeline as they no longer belonged in this one. No longer belonged in a timeline which would never provide them with the opportunity to travel back in time."  
  
"Okay," said Fred, "So I was absorbed back into the original timeline. Why am I now here in this one?"  
  
'Because your own timeline paused Fred. Do you see? When you and Harry traveled back in time your timeline ended. Once you had gone back in time and changed history, the only reason for your own timeline to exist any longer was to create the set of circumstances that would lead to you and Harry having that accident with the time turner. To prevent paradox. Do you understand? Now that you have traveled back in time, that timeline has no need to continue, and you as the time traveler have managed to converge with the Fred Weasley of this timeline who never time traveled at all. Do you see?"  
  
Fred frowned. He felt that could almost see, but all this philosophical discussion was hurting his head somewhat.  
  
"So it's like two Fred's from different timelines in the same body?" asked Sirius.  
  
"I believe so,' Dumbledore nodded gravely. "Although this the only practical case I've ever heard of. All theory on this subject has been, until now, just that, theory."  
  
"You mean no one's ever altered time enough to have two people in the same body before?" asked James.  
  
"Oh I would assume they have," said Dumbledore with a slight smile, "but think of how particular our circumstances are. Time travelers who have found themselves in Fred's position in the past may simply have died before they had a chance to take the mind expansion potion. Or perhaps they were simply not believed when they claimed to possess knowledge of another version of history. Whatever the reason Fred's is the only practical experience I have heard of that supports the branching theory as I have explained to you here today."  
  
"So all the people who weren't supposed to die still exist in the first timeline. They weren't just erased? Can we save them?" asked James, impatient now with the academic discussion. "Remus and the others, can we save them?"  
  
All eyes turned to Dumbledore.  
  
He shook his head slowly.  
  
"We cannot erase that which has been done," he said carefully, but there was an expectant tone to his voice, as though he was waiting for his pupils to arrive at some conclusion without his spelling it out for them.  
  
"So they are gone," said Fred, "There's nothing we can do?"  
  
"We can create a new timeline," said James, "a new branch."  
  
"But we can't change it back," said Sirius, "It will never be quite the way it was for Fred the first time around. Maybe we can save them all. James and Lily too."  
  
"No," said James with finality, "I have to die."  
  
It was as though he had hammered the last nail into his own coffin.  
  
It was almost clichéd.  
  
No one knew quite what to say.  
  
…………………………………………………………………  
  
Don't say I didn't warn you!  
  
Thanks for the lovely reviews as always!  
  
Ness - He's not entirely dead. Although watching you go ballistic might be amusing.  
  
Lacy - Less character stuff in this one unfortunately, but they'll be back and in anguish in chapter 28, don't you worry.  
  
Faerie Lover - Hope it was worth the wait.  
  
Duskrider Q - Hmm. I hate it when the good guys all agree. Where's the fun in that?  
  
Blacknight - The prophesy didn't save Harry. It just predicted that Voldemort would mark one of them his equal and then one of them would knock the other off. Lily saved Harry.  
  
Leena - Sama - Nice to see someone following my hints.  
  
Templa - Thanks as always. I loved writing the twins. They're fantastic in the books. Hoped you liked the philosophy in this one.  
  
Parrot - Fred and George are happy making.  
  
Jeanne2 - Whiskey is relieved to remain on the cliff.  
  
Summer rain... - Sorry, I know it's getting messier every time I update.:-p  
  
Tapdancing Parakeet - Wow! That was impressive. But who says the prphesy won't still come to pass somehow?  
  
P D Yerf - I hate those stories too. Hmm, maybe it should have been a sequel. Right now I'm kind of viewing it as act two of a three act story though.  
  
Riley - Can I work where you work?  
  
Hello? Mary - Happy Birthday (I know it was a while ago by now) My 22nd is on Friday.  
  
1000chpsdlicious - Blasphemy backatcha.  
  
The next one will be a bit more drama-ey. See you all then. 


	28. So much to tell you

Disclaimer: They're not mine and they never will be :-(

Three cheers for Ms Rowling!!!

Dumbledore gazed sadly at James. "That decision does not yet have to be made," he said "I believe it might be wise to consider all options before rushing off to your doom James."

James nodded politely, though Sirius recognized his look. James had made his decision.

Sirius shook his head in frustration. "Right then," he said. "The options. Let's look at the histories of both timelines. We can use them to plot out a new one. Or at least make educated guesses on how they might work out. Choose the best course of action. Grab a time turner, put this timeline on pause, and fix what we can for the new one. Simple."

"Yeah that's great," said Fred sarcastically, "because the way this timeline turned out was completely predictable. It'll take us no time at all to "plot out a new one"."

"Fred's right," said James. "We just need to undo what was done. Make the new timeline as similar to the first as we can. Stop Fred and Harry from staying in our dormitory for example. Or perhaps take some of that potion back in time with us make sure they drink it before they made any changes. Otherwise it's too unpredictable. We might change things we never intended to."

Sirius, whose knee had started twitching with nervous energy as James spoke now stood abruptly from his chair. "No," he said, "There's another way. There has to be. I refuse to believe that sending you to your death and me to…to Azkaban is the best way to do this. Bringing Remus back only to abandon him to isolation, because you know he would have been isolated without us Prongs, and Harry to be a tortured orphan. How is that better than what we have now?!"

Confusion crossed James's face, "Maybe…maybe we can save you from Azkaban. I could go back and warn you somehow. Subtly. I'll say nothing about Peter, just give you some sort of advice that will stop you from being framed. How was he framed Fred?"

"James you twit that's not the point!" Sirius exclaimed, cutting Fred off before he could speak. He stared at James as if he had never seen him before. "We can do some good here! It's not just about me or Lily! It's about all of them! We can change history! Make it better for everyone we can!"

"Sirius there's a reason they've made laws on time traveling . . ."James began. But Sirius snorted and walked from the room before his best friend could get any further, taking the spiral staircase four at a time as it moved beneath his feet. He heard Dumbledore's calming voice saying something or other as he fled, but moved too quickly to make out the words.

He walked at a rapid pace, letting anger at James fuel his steps until he found himself at the portrait of the Fat Lady. He opened his mouth to speak the password but suddenly realized he didn't know it and hadn't for seventeen years. What was he doing?!

Habit had brought him here he realized. His mind had gone back to his teenaged years and in his distress he had simply walked to the most comforting place he had known in the castle as a student.

He leaned his head against the wall.

This whole situation was a disaster.

Why did Fred have to remember his other life now? Or at all?

Why did James have to be such an honor bound pratt?

Why did Remus have to dead and gone when Sirius needed to hear that calm lecturing tone tell him what was right and wrong and how to behave, whether Sirius ever listened or not.

He suddenly hated the werewolf for being dead.

It was an uncomfortably familiar feeling.

And now James was planning to get himself written out of the timeline to bring Remus back. Would Sirius hate James for being dead when he was gone? He wouldn't have to feel guilty about it if he did he decided. James was doing this himself. By choice.

Sirius slammed his fist into the stone wall.

His knuckles bled.

…………………………………………………….

"I have something to tell you."

In one swift move Lily reached for her wand and had it at James's throat. When she realized who it was standing in her kitchen she lowered the wand, but not by much.

"What are you doing here?" she asked suspiciously. James saw with some guilt that she had been crying. 

He felt lost for a moment, then quickly motioned toward the living room before his nerve failed him. "You should sit down for this."

"For what?"

"For what I have to tell you."

Lily's eyes went heavenward. "I don't have time for any more games alright. Whatever it is you can just blurt it out here." James hesitated. "Go on then!"

James shuffled from foot to foot, stalling. His hand went up to his hair, a gesture he had not performed in years. When he realized what he was doing he lowered it with a quick guilty glance at Lily.

"I lied to you," he said. "I didn't want to but I did."

Lily's foot began to tap on the tiled floor. "Lied about what James?"

"Everything. I……Can we please sit? This feels wrong here."

Lily gave him an appraising eye for a long moment and it seemed to James that she was more confused by him at that moment than suspicious. Silently she led him to the lounge suite. 

"We're sitting," she said.

James nodded. "I have to tell you something. It's not going to be easy for you to hear this and even harder for me to take your response but if I don't tell you this now I'll never have another chance and I need you to be okay with this. I need . . . . your approval I suppose. I won't do this unless you say it's alright."

He could hear his own words spilling out one over the other as he tried to move toward what he really needed to say. Damn it, he was making no sense. He wished Lily's presence was not making him so nervous.

He had not been honest with her, had not been himself with her, for so long that he no longer knew how to hold an honest conversation with her, let alone go through with this.

To make matters worse she was no longer showing any signs of being impatient with him. She was gazing at him patiently and sympathetically, just waiting for him to continue. What has caused the change? Was he coming across as that pathetic?

"It's like this," he managed, "I never wanted to hurt you. I never wanted to say the things I said. I never wanted to see anyone else…" he stopped. He'd said the wrong thing. Lily's sympathy was short lived.

She was growing angry. 

"James…"

"Don't get mad yet, let me say this," he pleaded.

She nodded, not mollified in the least, but listening all the same.

"There was a reason I did what I did," he paused, gathering his courage, "Do you remember my cousin Harry? The time traveler? From years ago. At Hogwarts?"

"Oh of course!" she said, after a long moment of reflection, "The one we found at the Weasley's house and brought back to the castle that night. Oh it seems so long ago now. It must have been what? Fourteen years? What's he got do with anything? Oh Gosh! Fred's about the age he was then! Seventh year. That's when he came back in time. Oh won't it be interesting to talk to him about it after it happens. Have he and your cousin even met yet?"

"No," said James apprehensively , "and they won't. We changed things. I…changed things."

Lily was surprised.

"You changed things? I thought they were supposed to drink a potion so that nothing would be changed. Isn't that what you told me?"

"Yes. They were supposed to. But they didn't. They didn't get the chance to. I didn't give them that chance. Harry told me too much about the future. Enough to change things. Dramatically."

"What did he tell you?" Lily asked, worried now, and a little scared too judging from the way she was leaning away from him. "What did you do?"

James looked at his shoes. "He told me…." he whispered, "he told me I would die. Young."

Lily's hand went to her mouth. "Why would he tell you that?" she asked, then quickly added "When?" before he could answer.

"It would have happened thirteen years ago. Should have happened."

"Should? What are you talking about James? You were going to die of course it was best to change it!"

"Even it meant that Harry would never be born?" he asked softly.

Lily stared at him. "Oh God what did you do?" she asked. "Oh!" she gasped, "He wasn't your cousin! He was your………." James looked directly into her eyes, willing her to realize without him having to say the words. Waiting for her to put the pieces together. "Our….?"

He nodded ever so slightly.

She continued to stare at him. A look of horror growing in her eyes.

He had to look away.

"I didn't change it just to save myself," he said, realizing he had not been clear on this point, "He told me we would both die. You and me. He was an orphan. And Sirius was sent to Azkaban because he was framed for our murder. I couldn't. I mean I couldn't just leave things like that. It was too horrible."

A strange sound escaped Lily. Somewhere between a gasp and a sob. Her eyes were still wide.

James reached out a hand as though to comfort her but drew it away before it reached her, unsure as to whether or not she would want his touch.

She stayed silent, staring.

James decided he had to plough on.

"I didn't know how much I had changed things, how much had gone so wrong until I spoke to Fred in the hospital today. You were right. He's exactly the age he was when we first met him. It's why he fainted. This was when he was supposed to go back. Only he didn't. Harry wasn't here and that changed everything. But Fred remembered it all. The timeline how it would have been if we'd stayed together and he told us how it was different."

"Was it worth it?" Lily spat out. James couldn't tell if she was angry or just shocked.

"No," he whispered, "I don't think it was. It's all awful in fact." He felt the tears coming again as he pictured Arthur Weasley's smiling face and remembered the grief of his wife and children, "It's all awful."

He could feel himself breaking down as two things happened at once. The first was the now familiar feeling of guilt. The second was a terrible weight lifting from his shoulders. There. He'd said it. She knew. 

It almost didn't matter how she responded now. She knew the truth and that was all that mattered.

He could feel his shoulders shaking, not with sobs, but with a sort of confused and trembling relief

"James," Lily cried quietly, and her arms went around him.

He was too overcome to say a word.

But it felt like coming home.

…………………………………………………………………..

A/N: Hi all. Hope you all like this one.

Thanks to everyone who liked the time traveling theory. It was as original as I could make it and I appreciate all the positive feedback on it.

Parrot:

I do have James saying some awkward stuff. Especially the "I have to die" comment. But I figured it was Ok as long as he sounded awkward saying it. Like he was trying to be something he didn't quite feel comfortable being, or putting forward a slightly forced face when he says these things. Neighbours was the soap I wrote for. And I reckon it's better than H&A. Much more "realistic". Even though most of the sets are collapsible. Seriously. Lou's pub just folds up when they're not shooting in it. And it's much smaller than it looks on the show. So are all the actors. They're like tiny people. The magic of television was destroyed for me when I walked onto that sound stage. J What eps are they up to in England? I think you're about 6months behind so you might be watching the ones I wrote for!

Ness

Okay, I might be bringing him back. Have patience. He he.

Templa

That was a BTtF line? Didn't even realize. Thanks for all the character stuff you noticed, as always. I am having a lot of fun writing James and Fred in particular, so I love that you picked up on all the nuances with them. I think you're probably watching the Neighbours eps I wrote for right now. If you see a Village People gag, that was mine.

Barzel

Yay! Someone got the reference! No theories as of yet. Maybe prince William discovers he's a half blood wizard?

Skahducky

Sorry, Harry doesn't exist here.

Duskrider

The characters have kind of taken over from me at this point. Can't promise what the ending will be like.

MidniteMarauder

Well, when James does something he jumps right in without looking at the warning signs. Thanks for your kind comments.

X-Woman

I do quite like the branching theory w/o time travel. I think it's fairly plausible.

Maryx As requested J

Tru Lys

I assume the report was due a while ago now, but feel free.

praesul femella

Ginny wasn't born because things were so horrible in the wizarding world that the Weasley's decided not to have a seventh child.

Dr Huff Puff

We aim to freak out! George went to creat a distraction so that Fred could sneak into Dumbledore's office without being found out by Filch.

Leena - Sama

Maybe James, maybe not.

Kluvhp

Yay! Someone noticed the SPEW reference! Yes it was Hermione in the hospital.

Errorbasin

Yeah. I was just reading a fic that went round in circles and didn't really seem to have a plot to speak of. I hate fics like that. I do like to think about what I write before plunging in. Thanks for noticing!

And thanks to everyone who reviewed!!

Cheers

Whiskey. 


	29. Which reality is yours?

Disclaimer: They're not mine and they never will be :-(

Three cheers for Ms Rowling!

In a state of vague doze, Lily sensed a warm body move behind her and froze in a panic before recalling the previous day's events.

Consciously, she relaxed every muscle in her body, one by one, before turning herself to view James.

He appeared younger somehow. In sleep he was so much like the James Potter of her memory.

She smiled softly and brushed a hand against his cheek, then Glanced at her watch and moved awkwardly from the bed.

She dressed in silence, not wanting to wake her lover now he was finally at peace. He'd been such a mess last night. It would be best for him to sleep the tension away this morning.

She on the other hand needed to know more about the ailment. In many ways the previous night had been a dream come true for Lily - she finally had what she'd craved for years on end, an acknowledgement from James that their love had not died - but while she was living a dream, she understood that James was living a nightmare, and she knew she would be useless to him unless she discovered more about the cause.

She focused on that as she prepared to apparate to St Mungoes. Nothing else. Just James and how he needed her.

She chose a spot close to the reception desk, but tucked in a corner. Some instinct told her that was best as she disappeared from her home.

When she materialised it immediately struck her that from her chosen vantage point she could observe the people waiting for assistance, while they could not see her. She noted with dismay that more than a few were victims of magical attacks; precise gashes, oozing sores, extra appendiges, and one woman who couldn't keep herself from screaming hysterically, the whites of her eyes flashing as her husband attempted in vain to calm her.

The screaming gave the room an air of hopelessness as the other patients made concerted efforts to pretend they couldn't hear her.

Would the war never end?

And that's when it happened. Lily felt reality strike her like a bludger to the head, forcing her to comprehend the reality of what James had been trying to convey the previous night. She became weak. Her body drifted back against the wall and slid to the floor, her arms hugging her knees to her chest.

For a while she stared at the space ahead of her, attempting to comprehend the enormity of James's actions. He had spilled it all, holding nothing back, but somehow, it was not until this moment that she understood.

Joy at the knowledge that James still loved her, had always loved her, despite his deplorable behaviour toward her over the years, had overshadowed her initial horror at discovering he had erased the existence of their son. Harry she had barely known. James was the one she needed.

Now she was confused over how to feel. Should she be grateful that he had saved her life or hate him for preventing their life together. Should she feel guilt over the deaths and continuation of the war?

One thing she knew for certain: she was anguished over his wish to reverse what he'd done. She understood it. She did. The burden of guilt was destroying him. But to lose him now?

When he'd reached the point of explaining what he'd wanted to do she'd been vaguely aware that it would mean the end of them, but for some reason it hadn't seemed real. As if James were merely telling a story, not making plans with consequences.

She hadn't given him permission to undo the changes as he'd asked. She hadn't been able. She'd needed time. She wasn't impulsive the way he was and never had been.

James had nodded silently. She'd known he'd wished to continue arguing the point until she'd agreed with him. But he'd held back, believing after everything he'd put her through he'd had no right to push her then.

"I can wait," he'd said, looking as though he might start shaking uncontrollably once more.

She'd reached for him on instinct, and unable to process everything at once she had focused on the only thing that had seemed to matter: He was still hers. If she wanted to touch him he wouldn't push her away or run. Not now. An emotionally draining stumble into the bedroom had followed.

She stared ahead.

Why had she come here?

She brought herself back to the moment and forced herself to stand and walk to the notably ugly wizard at the reception desk.

"Can I help you miss?"

"Please. I'm looking for Fred Weasley. Can you tell me where to find him?"

Fred was back in bed.

He seemed to be sleeping peacefully.

George was nestled in the uncomfortable looking chair by him.

Lily only glanced the pair briefly before ducking back out into the safety of the hall.

She breathed deeply. Seeing Fred made her think of their first meeting at Hogwarts so many years ago, and that took her mind to something she had managed to avoid thus far – Harry as he would have been.

His appearance had been similar to a younger James. She remembered that.

She also remembered the fleeting thought that he was sweeter than James. Polite. Overwhelmed in a way James had never been at that time. With a feeling of sickness she now realized why. James had introduced them so casually, with not the slightest idea that Harry was meeting his mother for the first time. He had then whisked her away to the room of requirement, away from the child she would never know.

She felt a fleeting attack of anger. James should have given them more time! Should not have told the flippant lie about Harry being his cousin! Should have understood she would never have another chance to . . . . . no. That was useless.

She clenched her fists, unclenched them, let the irrational moment pass, then wandered unobtrusively into the hospital room.

George was awake now. He smiled slightly and raised a brow at her.

"Come to visit the invalid?"

She laughed despite it all. "Invalid? Are we calling young men who capable of sneaking from hospital rooms into the office of Albus Dumbledore himself "invalids" now?"

George chuckled, conceding the point. "Well he had help."

He gazed at her. The brief moment of humour had died, and when she offered nothing more he sighed and shook his head, "I suppose you're going to be as secretive as the rest? You want me to leave?"

The question was a challenge. His tone showed he had no intention of leaving.

Lily merely took the seat beside him.

"I came to visit a sick friend," she said, "and who might this secretive "rest" be I wonder?"

George smirked. "James, Sirius, Dumbledore," he glanced at his twin, "Fred."

Lily was surprised at this. Fred hadn't spoken to George? That was odd. She wondered what it meant.

"Do you know what's going on?" he asked eventually. "What the meetings are about?"

"I've some idea," she replied honestly. "I came here to understand it better. I suppose it can wait though. No point in waking him, he's been through an ordeal," she stood to leave. George was making her uncomfortable. Like an intruder. Her questions could wait.

"Yeah," said George bitterly, keeping the conversation going and preventing an neat exit. "Well I wouldn't know would I."

"George . . . ." she began to admonish him, but he wasn't paying heed.

"Fred!" he yelled suddenly, cutting her off. "Hey Fred wake up you've got a visitor!"

Unexpectedly he reached out and began to shake Fred roughly. Alarmed, Lily gripped his wrist, attempting to prevent any violence.

"Wha..?" Fred mumbled groggily as he woke.

George wrenched his fist from Lily's grasp. "You've got a visitor," he repeated shortly. "Don't worry I'm leaving. You can talk freely."

He stalked from the room.

Lily stared.

Fred, now fully awake, glanced at his twin's retreating figure only briefly before casually reaching behind himself to better arrange his pillows for sitting. Once he was comfortable he clasped his hands in his lap and wordlessly gave Lily his full attention.

Something about his face was closed.

She shifted uncomfortably. "Are things alright between you two?"

He nodded cheerfully. "Just a spat. He'll be right." She nodded. "You here to check up on me?" he went on, "I'm feeling better."

"By all accounts you're looking much better too."

"Oh yeah? According to who?"

She felt awkward. He was smiling, but his tone almost dared her to fight with him. What was this? She decided to lay it out for him. No sense in playing games.

"James told me everything."

Fred paused at this, then smiled again. "Everything? You sure about that? You two haven't exactly been close this past decade."

"I'm sure," she sighed, trying to ignore the unexpected jibe as she suddenly realized that this was not quite the Fred she knew. What was it James had said? Mind expansion? This was a new Fred. The old Fred was gone. She was saddened by this and felt the tears starting to rise. She pushed them away. They were no use here.

His smile faded. "What do want from me then Lil?"

She chuckled humourlessly. "I don't know exactly." She took in his face. His eyes. "You are different you know. James said you were but I see it for myself now. Do you feel alright? Can I do anything to help?"

It sounded useless, even to her own ears.

"No," he said, "Not unless you can turn back time," he added brightly. She laughed. "And I can't be that different. Obviously I'm still funny."

She laughed again. "I'm glad," she said sadly.

"Why are you really here?" he asked, more seriously.

She gave him her best condescending look, not wanting this seventeen year old joker to get the better of her. "Not until you tell me how you are Mr. "fainted in the bathroom". I might be here for other information but I still want to know you're alright."

It worked. His defenses came down at this honest sign of concern. He unclasped his hands and let them fall to his sides.

"Yeah. You and everyone else," he said, no longer meeting her eyes. "I'm still trying to absorb it all I guess. It's like the whole world has been turned on its head. But at the same time it hasn't, because it's always been like this, and the other world feels like a dream. It just depends on how I view it from moment to moment. I can't explain it right."

"No you're doing quite well," she encouraged, relieved now that he was talking to her the way he had been able in the past. This would not be the first time one of the twins had used her as a councilor. "So why haven't you spoken to George about it?"

"I don't know," he answered. "I mean he's not really my George is he. But he is because the other George doesn't exist anymore. It's like the other George is dead. Like Dad."

Now his eyes met hers. He was trying to gauge her reaction. He was trying to shock her to see how she would respond. It had worked.

She took a moment. "Wow," she managed at last, sympathy on her features.

"Yeah," he said, and the barrier went up again. "But enough about me. What do you really want to know?" he asked, obviously trying to distract her.

For a second she wondered if she should be stubborn and not play into his game. Her desire to understand James took precedence however and she found herself considering the question. What did she want to know? What was the other past like? Did Fred think it should be changed back? Had James really created a world more miserable than the last?

"Harry," she said at last, "What was he like?"

She asked the question matter of factly. Fred thought about it.

"Sneaky," he said, "Harry was sneaky."

"Sneaky?" she repeated, somewhat scandalized.

"Yeah. Sneaky. Or maybe secretive is better. Brilliant at Quidditch. Youngest to be on a Hogwarts team in a century."

"A chaser?" Lily asked, thinking that James would have loved that.

"No. Seeker. 'Cause he's quick and little. Thinks of others a lot. Gave me and George a lot of Gold to start a joke shop because he thought people would need a laugh with all the awful You Know Who stuff going on. Smart. You know, not bad at school. Good at defense. Course you'd expect him to be after all the ridiculous stuff that's happened to him."

"The ridiculous stuff that's happened to him?" she queried. Fred nodded. "Such as?"

"Oh you know. Having You Know Who after him all the time. Getting attacked by a basilisk and a troll at Hogwarts. Being entered into the Triwizard tournament. Tortured in a graveyard. He was in a bad way last I saw. I mean I'm sure he would have pulled through. He's Harry. You know? But he was in a bad way."

Lily shook her head, becoming visibly distressed now. "No. I don't know Fred. I don't know anything about him. All I remember is James telling me Harry was his cousin from France!"

Fred nodded. "Isn't that just like something James would do. Right. Well Harry was brave. I reckon he would have been alright after it all. He was more like you than James I think."

"He sounds more like James. I've never liked quidditch."

"Something I for one will never understand," he quipped, making her laugh slightly despite it all. Fred didn't laugh though, "He deserved to live."

"And James didn't?" she countered quickly, all laughter forgotten. She stared at him. "You agree with James don't you. You think we should change it all back?"

"I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to."

"I'm not saying I think you should have died, I just…….oh this is horrible. Why did you have to come here?"

"You have two memories now," she said, thinking out loud, "and you like the other one better."

"Course I do," he scoffed. "Dad's still alive there and the world hasn't gone insane the way it has here. No one wants to admit it, especially to us "kids", but we are losing this war. At least we had a chance back home. I mean…….I mean back…"

"You think of the other time as home," she stated.

"Yeah. I do." He appeared ashamed. "Sorry."

She nodded. "Thank-you Fred," she said formally, before standing straight and walking carefully to the door.

"Lil!" he cried. She paused. "Do you think we should change it back?"

"I don't know," she said, and walked away.

Fred leaned back on his pillows. He hadn't expected that. Hadn't thought about Lily much at all. Now he was forced to face it he realized that he had intentionally avoided thinking of her. Changing the past meant letting Lily be murdered. Thinking of her made him feel guilty for wanting to change it back.

Lily had always been close to Fred and George. Like a young aunt perhaps.

She was one of the few regulars at Grimmald place who didn't treat them like trouble making children.

He needed to talk to George.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Parrot - The Rebbecci family names on neighbours are themed. First it was the rebel, "Stoney" (Stonefish), then his troublemaker brother "Toadie" (Toadfish) then their deliquent cousin "Tad" (Tadpole) then their ADHD inflicted cousin "Stingray". I thought it was amusing.

Barzell - Yup, I've seen timeline. I thought it was a bit of a let down. Although I thought the romantic storyline about the earless guy was pretty cool.

Templa - I'll keep this conversation going on livejournal. Just didn't want you to think I'd forgotten you.

X-Woman - Have I not updated since New Year:s sorry all!

Ness - He he.

Sugar Sorceress - Wow! Thankyou. You pretty much nailed the philosophy. Not giving any more hints on how it ends though.

Thanks to all others who reviewed. Just so you all know I fully intend to finish this story. Sorry the updates are so few and far between! Life as usual got in the way.

Along with the breakdown of my laptop.

You can read all about it on my livejournal, located under the "homepage" button at the top of the page.

Cheers all,

Whiskey


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